.0^ r' -'- o 







C, if 










C" . 








-^^0^ 



















C, vP 



V* <*^ 



• . . • . W 




^fK\ ^^ A^ 



. "^^ ..^" ^^^V/b!''. U .^^ 







































'^%' 











". ^^0^ . 



'^. "^' .v^ ... -•*. 




^oy 



^o^. '*.-»' ^0" 









v^^ 






-' ^^'\ '^S /\ '"^W^- .^^\ ^'^/ /\ 






ORIGINAL NARRATIVES 
OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 

REPRODUCED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

General Editor, J. FRANKLIN JAMESON, Ph.D., LL.D., Litt.D. 

DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN THE 
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON 



NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 
1675 — 1690 



ORIGINAL NARRATIVES 
OF EARLY AMERICAN HIS TOR Y 



NARRATIVES 
OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

1675—1690 



EDITED BY 



CHARLES M. ANDREWS, Ph.D., L.H.D. 

FARNAM PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN YALE UNIVERSITY 



1VITJI THREE FACSIMILES 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
NEW YORK ------ 1915 






■,C'V 



COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



Published February, 1915 







CONTENTS 

NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 
Edited by Charles M. Andrews 

PAGE 

General Introduction 3 

The Beginning, Progress, and Conclusion of Bacon's Rebellion, 

1675-1676 [1705] 9 

Introduction 11 

Dedication to Secretary Harley 15 

Beginning of Trouble with the Doeg Indians 16 

Siege of the Indian Fort 19 

Bacon's March against the Indians 21 

Bacon and Berkeley at Jamestown 22 

Debate in the Assembly 24 

Queen of Pamunkey at the Assembly 25 

Bacon's Escape and Return 27 

Question of Bacon's Commission 30 

Bacon as "General of the Virginia War" 33 

Berkeley's Flight; Bacon's Convention 34 

Carver and Bland at Accomac 36 

Bacon's Death; Drummond's Execution 38 

Arrival of the English Commissioners 39 

Appendix, Author's Comments 40 

The History of Bacon's and Ingram's Rebellion, 1676 ... 43 

Introduction 45 

Siege of the Indian Fort 47 

The Frontier Forts of Virginia 50 

Indian Troubles; Nathaniel Bacon, Jr. 52 

Berkeley's March; Bacon's Commission 54 

Bacon's March against the Indians 56 

Bacon declared a Rebel . 58 

Bacon's Convention at Middle Plantation 60 

Oath of August 3; Berkeley's Flight 63 

Carver and Bland at Accomac ........ 64 

Berkeley's Return to Jamestown . 68 

Bacon at Tindall's Point, Gloucester County 71 

Bacon's Death; Epitaph 74 

Ingram's Proceedings . 77 

Execution of Hansford, Welford, Carver, and Farlow .... 80 

Return of Berkeley from Accomac 83 

v 



VI 



CONTENTS 



Various Camps of the Rebels 
Proceedings against Ingram and Walklett 
Attack on Major Wlialy 
Captain Grantham at West Point 
Proceedings against Drew at Green Spring 
Escape of Ingram; Execution of Drummond 
Berkeley's Return to Green Spring 



8b 
87 
90 
92 
95 
96 
97 



A True Narrative of the Late Rebeluon in Virginia, by the Royal 



Commissioners, 1677 

Introduction 

The Indian Attacks 

Sufferings of the Colonists; Berkeley's Attitude . 
Bacon and the People of Charles City County 
Bacon proclaimed a Rebel ..... 
Assembly at Jamestown; Seizure of Bacon , 
Question of the Commission .... 

Preparation for the Indian Expedition; the Oath 
Berkeley's Flight; Convention at Middle Plantation 
Expedition against the Indians 
Seizure of Carver at Accomac 
Bacon's March on Jamestown 
Siege and Burning of Jamestown . 
Bacon at Green Spring; Oath of Fidelity 
Progress of the Rebellion; Bacon's Death 
Overthrow of the Rebellion . 



99 
101 
105 
108 
109 
112 
113 
116 
118 
121 
123 
128 
129 
131 
136 
138 
139 



Narratives of Thomas Miller, Sir Peter Colleton, and the Carolina 

Proprietors, 1680 143 

Introduction 145 

Affida^'it of Thomas Miller 149 

Miller's Work as Collector at Albemarle 150 

Uprising against Miller 151 

Seizure of Miller and Others 154 

The Trial; Imprisonment of Miller 155 

The Case between Thomas Miller and Gillam, Culpeper, Du- 

RANT, Crawford, and Others 157 

Appointment of Eastchurch and Miller 158 

Miller's Illegal Conduct; Seizure and Imprisonment .... 159 

Situation after the Uprising 160 

Answer of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina .... 161 

Miller without Authority to act as Governor 161 

The Uprising and its Sequel 162 



Byfield's Account of the Late Revolution, 1689 .... 165 

Introduction 167 

Uprising in Boston 170 



CONTENTS 



Seizure and Imprisonment of Andros and Others . . . .173 

Declaration of the Gentlemen, April 18 175 

Letter to Andros from fifteen Inhabitants of Boston .... 182 

Letter of Samuel Prince, 1689 183 

Introduction 185 

Uprising in Boston 186 

Surrender of the Fort and the Castle 188 

Dismantling of the Frigate; Andros at the Fort 190 

A Particular Account of the Late Revolution, 1689 . . .191 

Introduction 193 

Factional Origin of the Uprising 196 

Andros and the Indian War 197 

Uprising of April 18; Seizure of Andros 199 

Seizure of the Frigate and Castle 203 

Council of Safety and the Indian War 204 

Andros at the Castle 206 

Attitude of the Townspeople toward the Church of England . . 207 

Situation after the Revolt 209 

Letter of Captain George to Pepys, 1689 211 

Introduction 213 

Revolt of April 18 216 

George and the Council of Safety 217 

Seizure of George and his Men . 218 

Position of the Frigate 219 

Andros's Report of his Administration, 1690-1691 .... 221 
Introduction to Narratives of Andros's Administration, 1690- 

1691 223 

Andros's Commission and Government 229 

Indian War 231 

Uprising of April 18 232 

Attitude of the Council of Safety 233 

The New Government 235 

Laws, Revenue, Trade, Indian Relations 235 

Narrative of the Proceedings of Andros, 1691 237 

To the Reader 239 

Statement of Grievances 240 

Laws, Rates, Duties, and Imposts 241 

Passage of Laws, Selectmen, Land-titles 243 

Justice and Fees 246 

Indian Troubles 247 

C. D., New England's Faction Discovered, 1690 251 

News from New England ; Increase Mather 253 

Defense of Andros and the Indian War 255 



viii CONTENTS 



PAGE 



News from England not suppressed 256 

'No Unlawful Levies of Money 257 

■Attitude of Boston toward Church of England 258 

Indian Affairs after the Revolt 260 

Account of Fight with Indians near Portland 261 

Relations with the Mohawks 264 

Loss and Damage due to the Indians 265 

Increase Mather's Brief Account of the Agents, 1691 . . . 269 

Introduction 271 

Voyage to England 276 

Royal Letter of January, 1689 277 

Failure of the Bill in Parliament 278 

Plan of a New Charter 279 

Attitude of the Lords of Trade 281 

New Draft of a Charter 283 

Alterations in its Terms 285 

Reasons for accepting the New Charter 286 

Mather's Defense 294 

Recommendations to the Colony 295 

Extract of a Letter from London Divines 296 

Declaration of Protestant Subjects in Maryland, 1689 . . . 299 

Introduction 301 

Lord Baltimore's Title to the Government 305 

Grievances of the Colonists 306 

Additional Grievances 309 

Proposals for a Free Assembly 313 

A Modest and Impartial Narrative, 1690 315 

Introduction 317 

Reasons for Publication of Narrative 320 

Policy of Lieut.-Gov. Nicholson 321 

Resistance of Leisler 322 

Seizure of the Fort and Treasury 323 

Leisler in Control; Committee of Safety 328 

Mission of Gold and Fitch 330 

Seizure of the Custom-House 332 

Arrests by Leisler 333 

Arrival of Jacob Milborne 335 

Election of New Officials 336 

Relation with Albany 338 

Leisler and the Royal Letter 338 

Leisler assumes Title of Governor 340 

Orders of Leisler and the Council 340 

Declared contrary to Charter of 1683 342 

Further Arrests by Leisler 344 



CONTENTS ix 

PAGE 

Case of Philip French 344 

Aggressive Conduct of Leisler 349 

Leisler's Position declared Illegal 349 

Custom Demands declared Illegal 352 

Arrest of Nicholas Bayard 353 

A Letter from a Gentleman of the City of New York, 1698 . 355 

Introduction 357 

Measures taken by Nicholson and the Council 360 

Mission of John Riggs 362 

Leisler's Revolt; Seizure of the Fort 362 

Leislerian Party in Office 363 

Receipt of the Royal Letter 365 

Committee of Safety 365 

Arrest of Bayard and NichoUs 366 

Position of the Protestant Ministers 367 

Leisler's Regime declared Arbitrary 368 

Arrival of Governor Sloughter 369 

Trial and Execution of Leisler and Milborne 369- 

Defense of the Truth of the Narrative 370 

Text of the Royal Letter 371 

Loyalty Vindicated, 1698 373 

Answer to Letter from a Gentleman 375 

Danger from the "Papists" 375 

Defense of Leisler's "Disorders" 377- 

Comments on Nicholson and his Council 379 

Their Failure to proclaim the King 380 

Defense of Leisler's Authority and Title 380 

Leisler's Loyalty to the Crown 382 

Control of the Custom-House 383 

Leisler's Arrests; Committee of Safety 384- 

Receipt of the Royal Letter 386 

Attitude of the Protestant Ministers 387 

Seizure of Provisions in the Town 388 

Arrival of Ingoldesby; his Authority 390 

His Relations with Leisler 391 

Arrival of Sloughter; Trial of Leisler 392- 

Reversal of Leisler's Attainder 393 

Recapitulation of the Narrative 393 

Restoration of Leisler's Estate . 395 

Administration of Governor Fletcher 396 

Policy of Governor Bellomont 397 

Purpose of the Letter from a Gentleman 400 

Index 403 



FACSIMILE REPRODUCTIONS 

PAQB 

First Page of Thomas Mathew's Narrative. From the original in 

the Library of Congress . . . . . , . .15 

First Page of the Declaration of the Protestant Subjects in 

Maryland, 1689. From an original in the Library of Congress . 305 

Title-Page of "A Letter from a Gentleman of the City of New 

York," 1698. From an original in the New York Public Library 360 



NARRATIVES OF THE INSURREC- 
TIONS, 1675-1691 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 

In the year 1676, the date of the first narrative in this 
volume, the Enghsh settlements in America were still in the 
formative stage of their development. Though ideas and in- 
stitutions were taking shape, the social order was unsettled 
and there prevailed a great variety of opinions similar to 
those held in England and ranging from the conservative 
belief in passive obedience and the divinity of kings to the 
radical notions of Levellers and Fifth Monarchy men. As a 
rule, colonists radical in opinion and restless in spirit crossed 
the water to America, and naturally the environment into 
which they entered did little to arouse conservative instincts. 
Intolerance was a characteristic of those who differed on ques- 
tions of government and religious faith, and much quarrelling 
accompanied the establishing of homes in the New World. 
The colonies were still receiving new accessions of people — 
English, French, and German— and each newcomer, having 
fled from persecution or economic distress abroad, added his 
quota to the stock of varied and often antagonistic opinions 
on matters of politics and religion. 

Among the colonies themselves many diversities appeared. 
The New Englanders were homogeneous in race, social rela- 
tions, religion, and methods of government, but to a degree 
greater than elsewhere were they illiberal toward others and 
independent of all that concerned the interest and welfare of 
the mother country. Virginia was largely homogeneous in 
race but not in class, and in political organization and eco- 
nomic relations was in close accord with the government at 
home. Maryland, homogeneous in race but not in religion 

3 



4 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

or class, presented conditions very similar to those in Vir- 
ginia; while in New York, where popular government had 
not been established, great diversity prevailed in race, religion, 
and political ideas. In the north there was little discontent 
due to poverty and suffering; but in the southern colonies 
social uneasiness, penury, and ignorance were everywhere 
factors of importance. 

Upon a people, sensitive and excitable and reflecting in 
so many ways the restlessness and discontent prevailing in 
England during the seventeenth century, every change in the 
situation at home was bound to make a deep impression. The 
age was one when men were not content to let sleeping dogs 
He. Fears and suspicions were easily aroused; hatred and 
anger cut deep into men's souls; and trifling incidents were 
sufficient to arouse doubt and mistrust. Colonial society at 
this time was in a ferment and quick to respond to outside 
forces. The fact that during the years from 1676 to 1690 in- 
surrections broke out in nearly all the colonies can be explained 
only in part by conditions existing in the colonies themselves; 
for behind the immediate causes lie those remoter influences, 
largely from outside, which give to the uprisings a common 
origin and common characteristics. These popular movements 
were not isolated phenomena; they were manifestations of a 
general discontent in the larger English world and the result 
of fears which prevailed in England as well as America, and 
though not always present in equal measure, or operating 
with equal effect, were everywhere much the same. 

Throughout the colonies bodies of settlers existed holding 
definite ideas regarding a "free government," or, as the more 
common phrase had it, a "free parliament." Despite the 
presence of representative assemblies in all the colonies ex- 
cept New York, the belief widely prevailed that elsewhere 
than in New England "free parliaments" did not actually 
exist. Men of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland held 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 6 

this view of the matter, and were in part justified by the facts; 
for in these colonies the royal or proprietary appointees con- 
trolled affairs and often compelled the popular assemblies to 
follow their lead. In New York, since the days of Governor 
Nicolls, demands for a representative assembly had been 
heard, and the Long Island towns had frequently plotted 
among themselves for a return to the jurisdiction of Connec- 
ticut. The New England colonies were content as long as 
they were let alone, but when they lost their charters and were 
combined in a Dominion of New England, with a royal gov- 
ernor, they too joined the ranks of those opposed to the pre- 
ponderant influence of the royal prerogative. 

But there is nothing to show that there was any wide- 
spread opposition to the connection with England or to the 
royal or proprietary authority as such. The insurgents of 
Albemarle, Virginia, and Maryland may have planned to set 
up popular governors, as in New England, but no colonist at 
this period would have been so foolhardy as to believe that 
separation from England was desirable or that English aid 
or protection could be dispensed with. The enemy that the 
colonists in America opposed and endeavored to destroy was 
the same enemy that their fellow Englishmen were fighting — 
the royal authority as exercised by and under the Stuart kings. 
In the government of Charles II. and James II. and of all who 
represented them, the colonists thought they saw a menace 
to free government. There was much in the royal policy that 
they neither knew nor understood, but in their eyes the gov- 
ernment of the Stuarts was not only harsh and despotic, but 
wrong, for they believed that it meant the dominance of Ro- 
man Catholicism, at this time a terrifying spectre and a fear- 
ful menace to Protestantism, and also the possible ascendancy 
of France, where despotism and Roman Catholicism were 
wreaking a terrible vengeance on the Protestant Huguenots. 
Even if a Stuart appointee were an avowed Protestant, he was 



6 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

classed with dogs, rogues, strangers, Irishmen, and Papists, 
and suspected of plots to bring down the French upon the 
colony or to carry the colony over to the side of France. 

We know that these fears were baseless and irrational, but 
they were real to many a colonist of this period and were 
forces that drove men to action. Bad government, heavy tax- 
ation, and perverted justice lent evidence and proof; wars 
and rumors of wars with the Indians on the frontiers gave 
ample warrant for belief in the machinations of Jesuits and 
Frenchmen at their doors; and the presence of Roman Cathohc 
governors in Maryland and New York and of Roman Catholic 
officials in both colonies furnished grounds for belief that con- 
spiracy was fomenting in the midst of the people themselves. 
Among ignorant and distressed planters and laborers, who, 
isolated in large part from the world outside, lived in a wilder- 
ness as yet untamed, these rumors, elaborated and magnified, 
assumed startling proportions, and even in towns such as 
New York and Boston lost few of their terrors. Any examina- 
tion of the causes of these insurrections becomes a study in 
human psychology. 

How far the revolts were due to England's efforts to en- 
force her commercial policy, as expressed in the navigation acts, 
royal proclamations and instructions, and customs officials, 
it is not easy to determine. In every instance where such 
influence can be seen, other causes were at work to such an 
extent as to render it more than doubtful whether the British 
policy was a serious contributing factor. The uprising in 
Albemarle was a protest against the attempt of Miller, the 
collector, to collect the plantation duty, but as Miller was try- 
ing to act also as governor, and doing his part very badly, we 
cannot be sure that the plantation duty alone would have 
brought about the revolt. Bacon's rebellion in Virginia was 
supported largely by the poor and discontented planters, but 
even if the navigation acts can be shown to have been a cause 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 7 

of destitution, they cannot be placed as determining factors in 
the same class with the heavy taxation and the political mis- 
rule. Though the Marylanders had had difficulties with the 
royal officials, they do not mention the acts in their complaints; 
and the northern colonists seem to have little to say of them, 
save that the New England merchants objected to their en- 
forcement by Randolph as interfering with the freedom of 
their trade. As the acts were largely neglected before 1676, 
and very inadequately applied until after 1696, I am not in- 
clined to see in them a cause of much importance. 

One cannot study the insurrections as a whole without 
noticing the mutual dependence of one colony upon another. 
New England sea-captains took part in the Albemarle move- 
ment; Albemarle men were at Jamestown and had some 
place in the Virginia uprising; Virginia and Maryland were so 
near together that their leading actors were in constant touch 
and almost mutually interchangeable. Leisler in New York 
was in correspondence with Maryland, Connecticut, and Massa- 
chusetts, while New York and Boston were in close communi- 
cation. New Yorkers serving as officials under Andros in Boston, 
Dudley presiding in New York at Leisler' s trial, and Leislerian 
supporters at Boston obtaining the reversal of Leisler's at- 
tainder by act of Parliament in England. The measure of 
these intercolonial relations and their effect upon the insur- 
rectionary movements are difficult to determine, but the fact 
that such interdependence existed is of considerable moment, 
and shows that not only were the causes of the movement 
much the same at bottom, but also that the influence of one 
revolutionary group on another is a matter not to be disre- 
garded. 

C. M. A. 



THE BEGINNING, PROGRESS, AND CONCLU- 
SION OF BACON'S REBELLION, 1675-1676 

[1705] 



INTRODUCTION 

The first popular uprising in colonial America took place 
in Virginia. This movement, commonly called, after its 
leader, Bacon's Rebellion, was at bottom a protest of the 
growing middle class in the newer plantations and counties 
against the political and social monopoly of the aristocrats 
living in the older settled areas. The number of small plant- 
ers, poor immigrants, and servants freed from bondage had 
greatly increased since 1650 and formed a social element 
easily disturbed by conditions that distressed the colony. 
Virginia had but one staple, tobacco, and so staked her pros- 
perity on a single commodity that was liable to constant 
fluctuations in its market value. Her people, despite frequent 
efforts of those in authority, both in England and in the col- 
ony, refused to engage in other staple industries. Govern- 
ment, both local and general, was in the hands of a clique, 
charged not only with political monopoly but also with favor- 
itism, corruption, and incompetence. Most of the people had 
no share in political life, for appointments were in the hands 
of the crown and the governor; the assembly of 1661 sat con- 
tinuously for fourteen years; and a disfranchising act of 1670 
cut off the landless class entirely from the right to vote. Tax- 
ation was unjust because the only direct tax was a poll tax, 
and was heavy owing to levies at this period for certain un- 
usual charges, such as the agency to England for the purpose 
of obtaining a reversal of the king's iniquitous grant of the 
Northern Neck to Arlington and Culpeper, and the new forts 
erected on the upper waters of the rivers for protection against 

the Indians. The political scandals and the heavy taxes 

11 



12 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

touched very closely a people among whom poverty and igno- 
rance widely prevailed, owing to normal frontier conditions, 
the falling price of tobacco, and disasters that resulted in heavy 
local losses. 

The burden of England's commercial policy was imdoubt- 
edly a grievance temporarily and in certain particular quarters, 
but it was in no sense a cause of the insurrection. Virginia 
had been living under the limitations of a restricted market 
for thirty years, and neither before nor after 1660 had the 
colonists protested against the requirement that they send 
their tobacco directly to England. Such protests as exist were 
individual and not general. Even after 1676, when the people 
at large had a chance to say what they thought, they scarcely 
mention this requirement among their grievances. They 
speak of the bad government, of heavy taxes, of dangers from 
the Indians, and of the oppressive conduct of individuals, but 
only in a very few instances of the navigation acts. They 
ascribed the low price of tobacco to heavy customs dues in 
England and to excessive planting in the colony. 

There are many accoimts of Bacon's Rebellion, of which 
the three selected for insertion here cover in an authoritative 
and fairly impartial fashion the entire movement. 

The narrative of The Beginning, Progress, and Conclusion 
of Bacon^s Rebellion was written in 1705 by "T. M." at the 
request of Secretary Harley, and must have remained for 
many years in the Harleian library. Though the Harleian 
collection of manuscripts was sold in bulk to the British 
Museum in 1753, this particular document, which bears the 
library numbering, fell in some way into the hands of the 
trade and was bought, in November, 1801, at a sale of the 
stock of Collins, bookseller of London, by Rufus King, minis- 
ter plenipotentiary of the United States at the court of St. 
James. In December, 1803, he sent it to President Jeffer- 
son. The original is now in the Library of Congress. The 



INTRODUCTION 13 

Virginia Historical Society has a copy of one of the two 
transcripts which Jefferson caused to be made; the other was 
given by him to the American Antiquarian Society and is 
now in its possession. 

The author, "T. M./' is undoubtedly Thomas Mathew, of 
Cherry Point, in the parish of Boutracy,^ Northumberland 
County, in the Northern Neck, Virginia. Mathew was a 
merchant-planter, having extensive landholdings in Virginia, 
particularly in those counties where the troubles with the 
Indians first began, Northumberland and Stafford, at the 
lower and upper waters of the Potomac. Although he was 
not interested in the poHtics of the colony and preferred to 
restrict himself to mercantile pursuits, yet he served as a 
county justice in 1672 and 1676, and at his house in 1677- 
1678 the county court of Northumberland sat as a "court 
maritime" to try a shipmaster guilty of a breach of the navi- 
gation acts. In 1676, though a resident of Northimiberland 
County, he was chosen, with Colonel George Mason, to rep- 
resent Stafford County in the House of Burgesses, and sat as 
a member of the Reforming or Baconian Assembly of that 
year. He took an active part in the work of the session and, 
as his own account testifies, was a member of influence. But 
he was not a party man and poHtical responsibilities were 
irksome to him. He disliked controversy, though he could 
not avoid it altogether, and he tried to steer a path between 
the two extremes, committing himself to neither party. He 
was twice offered a lieutenancy by Bacon, but each time 
refused. 

After the rebellion was over Mathew returned to his mer- 
cantile interests, experimented with the manufacture of linen, 
and came into frequent contact with William Fitzhugh, the 
well-known planter and letter-writer, who also had lands in 

1 Boutracy has long since disappeared as the name of a parish in Virginia, 
but it is mentioned in the early Northumberland records. 



14 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

Stafford County. Later he returned to England, where he 
lived in Westminster until his death, which took place some 
time between October, 1705, and February, 1706. He mar- 
ried a sister of Captain John Cralle, and left three children, 
born in Virginia between 1677 and 1680. 

Mathew wrote his account of the rebellion thirty years 
after the event. From internal evidence it would appear that 
he had at hand notes made at the time, though there is nothing 
directly to prove such a statement. He was well fitted to 
write the account, having lived in the midst of the events he 
describes and having been an eye-witness of many of them. 
He drew much information from personal conversation with 
Bacon, Lawrence, and other leaders, and certainly at first had 
much sympathy with the cause they represented, though not 
with its excesses. His narrative is straightforward and con- 
cise, such as one would expect from a man of business, and it 
is manifestly fair and honest. Mathew displayed no partisan 
interest in the rebellion, but rather a desire to do what he 
could to protect the country and to further the cause of peace. 

The narrative was first printed in the Richmond Enquirer, 
September 1, 5, and 8, 1804, from the copy now owned by the 
American Antiquarian Society. In 1820, it was printed for 
the second time, from a copy obtained from the Library of 
Congress, in the Virginia Evangelical and Literary Magazine, 
III. 128-149. It was issued for the third time by Peter 
Force in 1836, in his Collection of Tracts, vol. L, no. 8, the 
text being that of the copy possessed by the American Anti- 
quarian Society, and for the fourth time, after the second 
copy, in the Virginia Historical Register and Literary Note 
Book, HI. 61-75, 121-136, in April and July, 1850. A fifth 
reprint was issued in 1897, by G. P. Humphrey, in Colonial 
Tracts, no. 8. The present text is from the original manu- 
script in the Library of Congress. 



kgrcfs and j^nciuficm 

i/t'^fn r<:y itt a in tk^i, 



Ijears ifjfU^ibib. 












u 





.vp' 






j (m^m^i ft?5"fT<yt muj^ik 



t*>cv 



FIRST PAGE OF THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 

From the original in the Library of Congress 



THE BEGINNING, PROGRESS, AND CONCLU- 
SION OF BACON'S REBELLION, 1675-1676 

To the Right Horwble Robert Harley, Esqr} Her Majties Prin- 
cipal Secretary of State, and One of her Most Honoble 
Privy Council. 
Sr. 

The great Honour of Your Command obliging my Pen to 
step aside from it's habituall Element of Figures into this little 
Treatise of History; which having never before Experienced, 
I am like Sutor idtra crepidam,^ and therefore dare pretend 
no more, than (nakedly) to recount Matters of Fact. 

Beseeching your honour will vouchsafe to Allow, that in 
30 Years, divers occurences are laps' d out of mind, and others 
Imperfectly retained. 

So as the most solemn Obedience Can be now paid, is to 
pursue the Track of barefac'd Truths, as Close as my Memory 
can Recollect, to have seen, or believed, from Credible Friends, 
with Concurring Circumstances; 

And whatsoever your Celebrated Wisdom shall find amisse 
in the Composure my intire dependance is upon your Can- 
dour favourably to Accept these most Sincere Endeavours of 
Your Honours 

Most Devoted humble Servt 

T. M. 
The 13th. July 1705 

The Beginning, Progress and Conclusion of Bacons Rebellion 
in Virginia in the Years 1675 and 1676. 

About the year 1675 appear'd three Prodigies in that 
Country, which, from th' attending Disasters, were Look'd 
upon as Ominous Presages. 

The One was a large Comet every Evening for a Week, or 

^ The noted statesman of Queen Anne's reign, afterward Earl of Oxford. 
* The shoemaker away from his last. 

15 



16 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1675 

more at South- West; Thirty five Degrees high, Streaming 
like a horse Taile Westwards, untill it reach' d (almost) the 
Horrison, and Setting towards the Northwest. 

Another was. Flights of Pigeons in breadth nigh a Quarter 
of the Mid-Hemisphere, and of their Length was no visible 
End; Whose Weights brake down the Limbs of Large Trees 
whereon these rested at Nights, of which the Fowlers Shot 
abundance and Eat 'em; This Sight put the old Planters 
under the more Portentous Apprehensions, because the like 
was Seen (as they said) in the year 1640 When th' Indians 
Committed the last Massacre, but not after, untill that pres- 
ent Year 1675. 

The Third strange Appearance was Swarms of Flyes about 
an Inch long, and big as the Top of a Man's little finger, rising 
out of Spigot Holes in the Earth, which Eat the New Sprouted 
Leaves from the Tops of the Trees without other Harm, and 
in a Month left us. 

My Dwelling was in Northumberland, the lowest County 
on Potomack River, Stafford being the upmost ;^ where having 
also a Plantation, Servant's, Cattle, etc. My Overseer there 
had agreed with one Robt. Hen to come thither, and be my 
Herdsman, who then Lived Ten Miles above it; But on a 
Sabbath day Morning in the summer Anno 1675, People in 
their Way to Church, Saw this Hen lying th'wart his Threshold, 
and an Indian without the Door, both Chopt on their Heads, 
Arms and other Parts, as if done with Indian Hatchetts. Th' 
Indian was dead, but Hen when ask'd who did that ? Answered 
"Doegs Doegs,"2 and soon Died, then a Boy came out from 
under a Bed, where he had hid himself, and told them, Indians 
had come at break of day and done those Murders. 

From this Englishman's bloud did (by Degrees) arise 
Bacons Rebellion with the following Mischiefs which Over- 
spread all Virginia and twice endangerd Maryland, as by the 
ensuing Account is Evident. 

* Of all the counties in Virginia Stafford lay farthest from Jamestown, being 
a frontier region a hundred miles away by land and much more by water. North- 
umberland lay on the lower Potomac, forming with Lancaster, Westmoreland, 
Richmond, and King George, the Northern Neck, that is, the land between the 
Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, in width from nine to thirty miles, and in 
area a scant thousand square miles. 

*The Doegs were an Indian tribe dwelling in Maryland. 



1675] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE , 17 

Of this horrid Action Coll: Mason^ who commanded the 
Militia Regiment of Foot and Capt. Brent^ the Troop of Horse 
in that County, (both dwelling Six or Eight Miles Downwards) 
having speedy notice raised 30 or more men, and pursu'd those 
Indians 20 Miles up and 4 Miles over that River into Mary- 
land, where landing at Dawn of Day, they found two small 
Paths. Each Leader with his Party took a Separate Path and 
in less than a furlong, either found a Cabin, which they Silently 
Surrounded. Capt. Brent went to the Doegs Cabin (as it 
proved to be) Who Speaking the Indian Tongue Called to 
have a Matchacomicha Weewhip i. e. a Councill, called presently 
Such being the usuall manner with Indians. The King came 
Trembling forth, and wou'd have fled, when Capt. Brent, 
Catching hold of his twisted Lock (which was all the Hair he 
wore) told him he was come for the Murderer of Robt. Hen, 
the King pleaded Ignorance and Slipt loos, whom Brent shot 
Dead with his Pistoll. Th' Indians Shot Two or Three Guns 
out of the Cabin, th' English shot into it, th' Indians throng'd 
out at the Door and fled. The English Shot as many as they 
cou'd, so that they Kill'd Ten, as Capt. Brent told me, and 
brought away the Kings Son of about 8 Years old. Concerning 
whom is an Observable Passage, at the End of this Expedition; 
the Noise of this Shooting awaken'd th' Indians in the Cabin 
which Coll: Mason had Encompassed, who likewise Rush'd 
out and fled, of whom his Company (supposing from that 
Noise of Shooting Brent's party to be Engaged) shott (as the 
Colli: Inform'd me) Fourteen before an Indian Came, who 
with both hands Shook him (friendly) by one Arm Saying 
Susquehanougs Netoughs i. e. Susquehanaugh friends, and fled, 
Whereupon he ran amongst his Men, Crying out "For the 
Lords sake Shoot no more, these are our friends the Susque- 
hanoughs." 

This unhappy Scene ended, Coflo. Mason took the King of 

^ Colonel George Mason, a native of Staffordshire, England, came to Vir- 
ginia in 1651, and settled in Stafford County. He filled many public ofiices, 
dying in 1686. At this time he was forty-six years old. 

* Colonel George Brent, of Woodstock or Aquia, was one of the Maryland 
family of Brents and came to Virginia in 1650. He had lands in Stafford County 
near those of William Fitzhugh, whose partner he was in the practice of law. 
His house was on Aquia Creek, where the Potomac bends northward, as one 
ascends, toward the present Mount Vernon. He was a Roman Catholic. 



18 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1675 

the Doegs Son home with hun, who lay Ten dayes in Bed, as 
one Dead, with Eyes and Mouth Shutt, no Breath Discern'd, 
but his body continuing Warm, they behev'd him yett aUve; 
Th' aforenamed Capt. Brent (a Papist) Coming thither on a 
Visit, and seeing his httle Prisoner thus languishing Said 
"Perhaps He is pawewawd,'' i. e. Bewitch'd, and that he had 
heard Baptism was an Effectuall Remedy against Witchcraft — 
Wherefore advis'd to Baptize him. CoUo. Mason Answered, 
No Minister cou'd be had in many Miles; Brent replied, "your 
Clerk Mr. Dobson may do that Office," which was done by the 
Church of England Liturgy; Collo. Mason with Capt. Brent 
Godfather and Mrs. Mason Godmother, My Overseer Mr. 
Pimet being present, from whom I first heard it, and which all 
th' other Persons (afterwards) affirm'd to me; The Four Men 
return'd to drinking Punch, But Mrs. Mason Staying and 
Looking on the Child, it open'd the Eyes, and Breath'd, 
whereat she ran for a Cordial, which he took from a Spoon, 
gaping for more and so (by degrees) recovered, tho' before his 
Baptism, they had often tryed the same meanes but Coud 
by no Endeavours Wrench open his Teeth. 

This was taken for a Convincing Proofe against Infidelity. 

But to return from this Digression, The Susquehanoughs 
were newly driven from their Habitations, at the head of 
Chesepiack Bay, by the Cineka^-Indians, down to the head 
of Potomack, where they sought Protection under the Pas- 
cataway Indians,^ who had a fort' near the Head of that 
River, and also were our Friends. 

After this unfortunate Exploit of Mason and Brent, one 
or Two being kill'd in Stafford, Boats of War were Equipt to 

^The Senecas, "the greatest and most considerable nation," were at this 
time pressing down from the north upon the Susquehannas at the head of Chesa- 
peake Bay. 

^Piscattaway or Pascattoway Creek flows into the upper Potomac from 
Maryland. The Piscattoways were one of the smaller tribes of Indians, and 
their "empress" had married Giles Brent of Maryland. 

3 This was an old fort erected by Maryland for the protection of the fron- 
tier. It was attacked at this time by invitation of the Marylanders, as the nar- 
rative states, by a joint force of Virginians and Marylanders. The Virginia 
forces were led by Colonel John Washington, and a deposition of June 14, 1677, 
shows that the four (five or six) captured Susquehannas were put to death by 
the Marylanders. (William and Mary Quarterly, II. 39-40.) 



1675] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 19 

prevent Excursions over the River, and at the same time 
Murders being (Hkewise) Committed in Maryland, by whom 
not known, on either Side the River, both Countrys raised 
their Quota's of a Thousand Men, upon whose coming before 
the Fort, Th' Indians sent out 4 of their great Men, who ask'd 
the Reason of that Hostile Appearance, What they said more 
or offered, I Do not Remember to have heard; But our Two 
Commanders Caused them to be (Instantly) Slaine, after 
which the Indians made an Obstinate Resistance, Shooting 
many of our Men, and making frequent, fierce and Bloody 
Sallyes; and when they were Call'd to, or offerd Parley, Gave 
no other Answer, than " Where are our four Cockarouses, i. e. 
Great Men?" 

At the End of Six Weeks, March'd out Seventy five In- 
dians with their Women Children etc. who (by Moon light) 
past our Guards, hollowing and firing att Them without Op- 
position, leaving 3 or 4 Decrepits in the Fort. 

The next Morning th' English followed, but could not, or 
(for fear of Ambuscades), woud not Overtake these Desperate 
fugitives. The Number we lost in that Siege I Did not hear 
was published. 

The Walls of this fort were high banks of Earth, with 
Flankers having many Loop Holes, and a Ditch round all, and 
without this a Row of Tall Trees fastned 3 foot Deep in the 
Earth, their Bodies from 5 to 8 Inches Diameter, watled 6 
Inches apart to shoot through with the Tops twisted together, 
and also Artificially Wrought, as our Men^ coud make no 
Breach to Storm it, nor (being Low Land) coud they under- 
mine it by reason of Water — neither had they Cannon to bat- 
ter itt, So that 'twas not taken, untill Famine drove the In- 
dians out of it. 

These Escap'd Indians (forsaking Maryland,) took their 
Rout over the Head of that River, and thence over the heads 
of Rappahannock and York Rivers, killing whom they found 
of th' upmost Plantations untill they Came to the Head of 
James River, where (with Bacon^ and others,) they Slew Mr. 

} "And all so artificially wrought as [that] our men," etc. 

* Nathaniel Bacon, jr., was the son of Thomas Bacon of Freestone Hall, 
Suffolk, England. He married in 1670 Elizabeth Duke, daughter of Sir Edward 
Duke. He and his wife came to the colony in 1674, settling at Curies on the 



20 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1675 

Bacon's Overseer whom He much Loved, and One of his 
Servants, whose Bloud Hee Vowed to Revenge if possible. 

In these frightfull times the most Exposed small families 
withdrew into our houses of better Numbers, which we forti- 
fied with Pallisadoes and redoubts, Neighbours in Bodies 
Joined their Labours from each Plantation to others Alter- 
nately, taking their Arms into the Fields, and Setting Centinels; 
no Man Stirrd out of Door unarm'd, Indians were (ever and 
anon) espied. Three, 4, 5, or 6 in a Party Lurking throughout 
the Whole Land, yet (what was remarkable) I rarely heard of 
any Houses Burnt, tho' abundance was forsaken, nor ever, 
of any Com or Tobacco cut up, or other Injury done, besides 
Murders, Except the killing a very few Cattle and Swine. 

Frequent Complaints of Bloudsheds were sent to Sr. Wm. 
Berkeley (then Governour,)^ from the Heads of the Rivers, 
which were as often Answered, with Promises of Assistance. 

These at the Heads of James and York Rivers (having now 
most People destroyed by the Indians Flight thither from Po- 
tomack) grew Impatient at the many Slaughters of their 
Neighbours and rose for their own Defence, who Chusing Mr. 
Bacon for their Leader Sent often times to the Governour, 
humbly Beseeching a commission to go against those Indians 
at their own Charge which his Honour as often promised but 
did not send; The Misteryes of these Delays, were Wondred 
at and which I ne're heard any coud Penetrate into, other than 
the Effects of his Passion, and a new (not to be mentioned) 
occasion of Avarice, to both which, he was (by the common 
Vogue) more than a little Addicted; Whatever were the Pop- 
ular Surmizes and Murmurings vizt. 

"That no Bullets woud pierce Bever Skins. 

"Rebells forfeitures woud be Loyall Inheritances etc." 

During these Protractions and People often Slaine, most or 

James, a short distance below Henrico. Of this marriage two daughters were 
born in Virginia, one of whom died there. Mrs. Bacon, in a letter to her sister- 
in-law, says that the Indians destroyed "a great stock of cattle and a good cargo 
that we should have made there." We know that Bacon left his wife very des- 
titute at his death and that she married again, losing her second husband in 1679. 
William Byrd, who lived near the Bacons, says that Bacon had lost three of his 
men, one of whom was the overseer, before he took any action. 

^ Berkeley had been governor since 1662, as well as from 1641 to 1652. 



1675] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 21 

all the Officers, Civill and Military, with as many Dwellers 
next the Heads of the Rivers as made up 300 Men, taking Mr. 
Bacon for their Commandr. met, and Concerted together, the 
Danger of going without a Comissn on the one Part, and 
the Continuall Murders of their Neighbours on th' other 
Part (not knowing whose or how many of their own turns 
might be next) and Came to this Resolution vizt. To prepare 
themselves with necessaries for a March, but interim to send 
again for a Comission, which if could or could not be Obteyned 
by a certaine day, they woud proceed Commission or no 
Comission. 

This day Lapsing and no Comn. come. They march'd into 
the Wilderness in Quest of these Indians after whom the 
Govemour sent his Proclamacion, Denouncing all Rebells,^ 
who shoud not return within a Limited Day, Whereupon 
those of Estates obey'd; But Mr. Bacon with 57 Men pro- 
ceded untill their Provisions were near Spent, without finding 
Enemy's, when coming nigh a Fort of Friend Indians, on th' 
other Side a Branch of James River, they desired reliefe offer- 
ing paymt. which these Indians kindly promised to help them 
with on the Morrow, but put them off with promises untill 
the Third day. So as having then Eaten their last Morsells 
They could not return, but must have Starved in the Way 
homeward and now 'twas Suspected, these Indians had re- 
ceived private Messages from the Governour and those to be 
the Causes of these Delusive procrastinations ; Whereupon the 
English Waded Shoulder deep thro' that Branch to the Fort 
Pallisado's still intreating and tendering Pay, for Victuals; 
But that Evening a Shot from the Place they left on th' other 
side of that Branch kill'd one of Mr. Bacons Men, which made 
them believe, those in the Fort had sent for other Indians to 
come behind 'em and Cut 'em off. 

Hereupon they fired the Palisado's, Storm'd and burnt the 
Fort and Cabins, and (with the Losse of Three English) Slew 
150 Indians. The Circumstances of this expedicion Mr. Bacon 
Entertain'd me with, at his own Chamber, on a Visit I made 
him, the occasion whereof is hereafter mencioned. 

From hence they return'd home where Writts were come 
up to Elect Members for an Assembly, WTien Mr. Bacon was 

^I. e., as rebels. 



22 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

unanimously Chosen for One, who coming down the River 
was Commanded by a Ship with Guns to come on board, 
where waited Major Hone the High Sheriff of James Town 
ready to Seize him, by whom he was Carried down to the 
Governour and by him receiv'd with a Suprizing CivilHty in 
the following Words "Mr. Bacon have you forgot to be a 
Gentleman?" "No, May it please your Honour," Answer'd 
Mr. Bacon; "Then" replyed the Governour "I'le take your 
Parol," and Gave him his Liberty, in March 1675-6 Writts 
came up to Stafford to Choose their Two Members for an As- 
sembly to meet in May; when CoUo. Mason, Capt. Brent and 
other Gentlemen of that County, invited me to stand a Can- 
didate; a Matter I little Dreamt of, having never had Incli- 
nacions to tamper in the Precarious Intrigues of Governt ; and 
my hands being full of my own business; They press't sev- 
erall Cogent Argumts, and I having Considerable Debts in that 
County, besides my Plantation Concerns, where (in one and 
th' other) I had much more severely Suffered than any of them- 
selves by th' Indian Disturbances in the Sumer and Winter 
foregoing, I held it not (then) Discreet to Disoblige the Rulers 
of it, so Coll : Mason with my Selfe were Elected without Ob- 
jection, he at time Convenient went on horseback ; I took my 
sloop and the Morning I arriv'd at James town after a Weeks 
voyage, was welcomed with the strange Acclamations of "All's 
ov6r. Bacon is taken," having not heard at home of these 
southern comotions, other than rumours like idle tales, of one 
Bacon risen up in rebelHon, nobody knew for what, concern- 
ing the Indians.^ 

The next forenoon, th' Assembly being met in a chamber 
over the generall court and our Speaker chosen, the governour 

^ "Sherwood's Account" states that Bacon, having been elected burgess for 
Henrico, went to Jamestown in a sloop with fifty armed men, "with intent that 
when the house sat to force his way amongst them. It was judged he was not 
a fit person to sit as burgess, but that he should first be brought to answer the 
great charge against him. Of this he was informed by some of his faction and 
endeavors to escape, upon which several boats with armed men were sent to 
force his submission, and a command from the governor to one Capt. Gardner, 
whose ship rides at Sandy Point, not to permit him to pass. The small boats 
pursue him in that ship, by which he is fired at to come to anchor, and so he was 
taken and with all his men brought to town the 7th instant (June) and delivered 
to the governor." See below, p. 54. 



1676] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 23 

sent for us down, where his honour with a pathetic Emphasis 
made a Short abrupt Speech wherein were these Words. 

"If they had killed my Grandfather and Grandmother, 
my father and Mother and all my friends, yet if they had 
come to treat of Peace, they ought to have gone in Peace," 
and sat down. 

The two chief commanders at the forementioned siege, 
who Slew the Four Indian great men, being present and part 
of our Assembly. 

The Governour stood up againe and said "if there be joy 
in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repenteth, 
there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before 
us, call Mr. Bacon;" then did Mr. Bacon upon one Knee at 
the Bar deliver a Sheet of paper Confessing his Crimes, and 
begging Pardon of God the King and the Governour, Whereto 
(after a short Pause) He Answered "God forgive you, I for- 
give you," thrice repeating the same Words; When CoUo. 
Cole^ (One of the Councill) said, "and all that were with 
him," "yea," said the Governour "and all that were with 
him," Twenty or more Persons being then in Irons Who were 
taken Coming down in the same and other Vessels with Mr. 
Bacon. 

About a Minute after this the Governour, Starting up from 
his Chair a Third time said, " Mr. Bacon ! if you will live Civilly 
but till next Quarter Court (doubling the Words) but till next 
Quarter Court, He promise to restore you againe to your Place 
There" pointing with his hand to Mr. Bacons Seat, he having 
been of the Councill before these troubles, tho' he had been a 
very short time in Virginia but was Deposed by the foresaid 
Proclamacion, and in th' afternoon passing by the Court door, 
in my Way up to our Chamber, I saw Mr. Bacon on his quon- 
dam Seat with the Governour and Councill, which Seemed a 
Marvellous Indulgence to one whom he had so lately Pro- 
scribed as a Rebell. 

The Governour had Directed us to Consider of Meanes for 
Security from th' Indian Insults and to Defray the Charge 
etc. Advising us to beware of Two Rogues amongst us, nam- 

1 Colonel William Cole of Baltrope, Warwick County, was a member of the 
council, and a supporter of Berkeley. 



24 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

ing Laurence^ and Dnimond^ both dwelling at James Town 
and Who were not at the Pascataway Siege. 

But at our Entrance upon Businesse, Some Gentlemen took 
this opportunity to Endeavour the Redressing severall Griev- 
ances the Country then Labour'd under. Motions were made 
for Inspecting the Publick Revenues, the Collectors Accompts 
etc. and so far was Proceeded as to name Part of a Committee 
whereof Mr. Bristol ^ (now in London,) was and my self 
another, when we were Interrupted by Pressing Messages from 
the Governour to Medle with nothing, untill the Indian Busi- 
ness was Dispatch' t. 

This Debate rose high, but was Overruled and I have not 
heard that those Inspections have since then been Insisted 
upon, tho' such of that Indigent People as had no benefits from 
the Taxes groand under our being thus Overborn. 

The next thing was a Committee for the Indian Affaires, 
whereof in appointing the Members, my self was unwillingly 
Nominated having no knowledge in Martiall Preparations, 
and after our Names were taken, some of the house moved 
for sending 2 of our Members to Intreat the governour wou'd 
please to Assign Two of his Councill to Sit with, and Assist us 
in our Debates, as had been usuall. 

When seeing all Silent looking each at other with many 
Discontented faces, I adventur'd to offer my humble Opinion 
to the Speaker "for the Comittee to form Methods as agree- 

^ Richard Lawrence, William Drummond, and one Arnold were called "the 
bell-wethers of the rest during the whole rebellion." Lawrence has generally 
been considered the chief instigator of the movement. He was an Oxford man 
and a person of means, who lived at Jamestown, where he had a house. There 
Bacon, Lawrence, and Drummond conferred for three hours on June 7. See 
below, p. 114. 

^ William Drummond, a Scotsman, had lived at Jamestown before he was 
appointed governor of Albemarle County, 1664-1667. Returning to Jamestown, 
he became one of the chief men of the rebellion, continuing in arms after Bacon's 
death, until his capture, January 14, 1677. He was hung the same day. His 
daughter married a son of Colonel Thomas Swann, of Swann's Point, where the 
commissioners resided and held court in 1677. See below, pp. 98, 103. 

' Probably Major Robert Bristow, who came to Virginia in 1660 and set- 
tled in Gloucester County. He was captured by the insurgents and kept a 
prisoner until after Bacon's death. He lost heavily by the rebellion in estate 
and goods. He went to England in October, 1677, where he continued his career 
as a merchant. 



1676] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 25 

able to the Sense of the house as we could, and report 'em, 
whereby they woud more clearly See, on what points to Give 
the Governour and Councill that trouble if perhaps it might 
bee needfull." 

These few words rais'd an Uproar; One party Urging hard 
"It had been Customary and ought not to be omitted;" 
Whereto Mr. Presley^ my Neighbour an old Assembly Man, 
sitting next me, rose up, and (in a blundering manner replied) 
"tis true, it has been Customary, but if we have any bad 
Customes amongst us, We are come here to mend 'em," which 
Set the house in a Laughter. 

This was huddl'd off without coming to a Vote, and so the 
Committee must Submit to be overaw'd, and have every Carpt 
at Expression Carried streight to the Governr. 

Our Committee being sat, the Queen of Pamimky^ (De- 
scended from Oppechankenough a former Emperor of Virginia) 
was Introduced, who entred the Chamber with a Comport- 
ment Gracefull to Admiration, bringing on her right hand an 
Englishman Interpreter, and on the left her Son a Stripling 
Twenty Years of Age, She having round her head a Plat of 
Black and White Wampum peague Three Inches broad in 
imitation of a Crown, and was Cloathed in a Mantle of dress't 
Deerskins with the hair outwards and the Edge cut round 6 

1 William Pressly sat in the Long Assembly, 1662-1676, in the Reforming 
, Assembly, June, 1676, and in the royalist assembly that gathered February 20, 

1677, after the rebellion was over. 

2 "Pamunkey" seems to have designated the triangular section of country 
formed by the two main branches of the York River, with West Point at the apex. 
The Pamunkey tribes, however, occupied parts of New Kent County also. The 
queen represented the chiefs of the Powhatan group of Indians, her husband 
Tottopottomoy (Tatapamoi) having been killed in 1656. She had a son, John 
West, from whom came the name of the locality West Point. She was a faithful 
friend to the English, but suffered greatly by Bacon's rebellion, "being driven 
out into the wild woods and there almost famished. Plundered of all she had, 
her people taken prisoners and sold, she was also robbed of her rich match-coat 
for which she had great value and offered to redeem at any price." Among the 
presents sent to various chiefs from England was a red velvet cap to the Queen 
of Pamunkey, to which was attached a silver frontlet by chains of the same 
metal. This frontlet, which is now the property of the Association for the Pres- 
ervation of Virginia Antiquities, is the only one of these "crowns" known to 
exist. Whether others were sent is uncertain, as the Virginia Assembly pro- 
tested against making such regal presents to the Indians. 



26 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Inches deep which made Strings resembling Twisted frenge 
from the Shoulders to the feet; Thus with grave Courtlike 
Gestures and a Majestick Air in her face, she Walk'd up our 
Long Room to the Lower end of the Table, Where after a few 
Intreaties She Sat down; th' Interpreter and her Son Stand- 
ing by her on either side as they had Walked up, our Chairman 
asked her what men she would Lend us for Guides in the 
Wilderness and to assist us against our Enemy Indians, She 
Spake to th' Interpreter to inform her what the Chairman 
Said, (tho' we believed She understood him). He told us She 
bid him ask her Son to whom the English tongue was familiar, 
and who was reputed the Son of an English Colonel, yet neither 
woud he Speak to or seem to understand the Chairman but th' 
Interpreter told us, he referred all to his Mother, Who being 
againe urged She after a little Musing with an earnest passion- 
ate Countenance as if Tears were ready to Gush out and a 
fervent sort of Expression made a Harangue about a quarter of 
an hour, often interlacing (with a high shrill Voice and vehe- 
ment passion) these Words, Tatapatamoi Chepiack, i. e. Tata- 
pamoi dead. Coll: HilP being next me. Shook his head. I 
ask'd him What was the matter, he told me all she said was 
too true to our Shame, and that his father was Generall in that 
Battle, where diverse Years before Tatapatamoi her Husband 
had Led a Hundred of his Indians in help to th' English against 
our former Enemy Indians, and was there Slaine with most of 
his men; for which no Compensation (at all) had been to that 
day Rendered to her wherewith she now upbraided us. 

Her Discourse ending and our Morose Chairman not ad- 
vancing one cold word towards asswaging the Anger and 
Grief her Speech and Demeanour Manifested under her op- 
pression, nor taking any notice of all she had Said, Neither 



1 Colonel Edward Hill, the younger (1637-1700), lived at Shirley (opposite 
the mouth of the Appomattox), an estate that he received from his father. He 
was one of the Berkeley adherents, and one thoroughly disliked by the Baconians. 
The Charles City County grievances were so full of complaints against him in 
particular that he felt obliged to write an elaborate, but, as it happens, not a 
very convincing defense, denying all the charges. The commissioners from 
England, to whom the defense was addressed, characterized him as "a most 
notorious coward and insolent turbulent fellow," but the indictment is hardly 
just, though Hill was undoubtedly grasping and oppressive. 



1676] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 27 

Considering that we (then) were in our great Exigency, Sup- 
plicants to her for a favour of the same kind as the former, 
for which we did not Deny the having been so Ingrate, He 
rudely push'd againe the same Question "What Indians will 
you now Contribute" etc? of this Disregard she Signified her 
Resentment by a disdainfull aspect, and turning her head 
half a side, Sate mute till that same Question being press'd, 
a Third time. She not returning her face to the board, answered 
with a low slighting Voice in her own Language "Six," but 
being further Importun'd She sitting a little while Sullen, 
without uttering a Word between, Said "Twelve," tho' she 
then had a hundred and fifty Indian men in her Town, and so 
rose up and gravely Walked away, as not pleased with her 
Treatment. 

Whilst some dales past in Setling the Quota's of Men Arms 
and Ammunicion Provisions etc. each County was to furnish, 
One Morning early a Bruit ran about the Town, "Bacon is fled, 
Bacon is fled," Whereupon I went Straight to Mr. Lawrence, 
Who (formerly) was of Oxford University, and for Wit Learn- 
ing and Sobriety was equall'd there by few, and Who some 
Years before (as Col: Lee^ tho' one of the Councill and a 
friend of the Governours inform'd me) had been partially 
treated at Law, for a Considerable Estate on behalfe of a 
Corrupt favourite; which Lawrence Complaining loudly of, 
the Govemour bore him a Grudge and now Shaking his Head, 
Said, "Old Treacherous Villain," and that his House was 
Searcht that Morning, at day break, but Bacon was Escaped 
into the Country, having Intimation that the Governours Gen- 
erosity in Pardoning him and his followers and restoring him 
to his Seat in Councill, were no other than Previous Wheadles 
to amuse him and his Adherents and to Circumvent them by 
Stratagem, forasmuch as the taking Mr. Bacon again into the 
Council was first to keep him out of the Assembly, and in the 
next place the Governour knew the Country People were hast- 
ning down with Dreadfull Threatnings to double Revenge all 

1 Colonel Richard Lee was a son of the secretary of state of the colony, who 
had come to Virginia about 1642, settling first in York and then in Northumber- 
land Counties. He was a strong Berkeleyite, one of the "wicked and pernicious 
councillors" named by the commissioners, and had suffered at Bacon's hands, 
having been imprisoned for six weeks, to the injury of health and property. 



28 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Wrongs shoud be done to Mr. Bacon or his Men, or whoever 
shou'd have had the least hand in 'em. 

And so much was true that this Mr. young Nathaniel 
Bacon (not yet Arrived to 30 Yeares) had a Nigh Relation 
Namely Col : Nathaniel Bacon^ of Long Standing in the Coun- 
cil a very rich Politick Man, and Childless, designing this 
Kinsman for his heir, who (not without much Paines) had 
prevailed with his uneasy Cousin to deliver the forementioned 
written Recantation at the Bar, having Compiled it ready to 
his hand and by whose meanes 'twas Supposed that timely 
Intimation was Convey'd to the Young Gentleman to flee for 
his Life, And also in 3 or 4 dales after Mr. Bacon was first 
Seiz'd I Saw abundance of Men in Town Come thither from 
the Heads of the Rivers, Who finding him restor'd and his 
Men at Liberty, retum'd home Satisfied; a few Dales after 
which the Governour seeing all Quiet, Gave out Private War- 
rants to take him againe, intending as was thought to raise 
the MUitia, and so to Dispose things as to prevent his friends 
from gathering any more into a like Numerous Body and 
Comming down a Second time to Save him. 

In Three or Four dales after this Escape, upon News that 
Mr. Bacon was 30 Miles up the River, at the head of four 
hundred Men, The Governour sent to the Parts adjacent, on 
both Sides James River for the Militia and all the Men could 
be gotten to Come and Defend the Town. Express's Came 
almost hourly of th' Army's Approaches, who in less than 4 
dales after the first Account of 'em att 2 of the Clock entred the 
Town, without being withstood, and form'd a Body upon a 
green, not a flight Shot from the End of the Statehouse, of 
Horse and Foot, as well regular as Veteran Troops, who forth- 
with Possest themselves of all the Avenues, Disarming all in 
Town, and Comming thither in Boats or by Land. 

In half an hour after this the Drum beat for the House to 
meet, and in less than an hour more Mr. Bacon came with a 
file of Fusileers on either hand near the Corner of the State- 

^ Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, the elder, kinsman of the younger Bacon, came 
to Virginia in 1650 and died childless in 1692. He endeavored to divert his 
young relative from rebellion by promising "to invest him in a considerable part 
of his estate at once and to leave him the remainder in reversion after his own 
and his wife's death." He was a loyal Berkeleyite. 



1676] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 29 

house where the Governour and Councill went forth to him; 
We Saw from the Window the Governom' open his Breast, 
and Bacon Strutting betwixt his Two files of Men with his 
Left Arm on Kenbow^ flinging his Right Arm every Way both 
Uke men Distracted; and if in this Moment of fury, that En- 
raged Multitude had fal'n upon the Governour and Council 
We of the Assembly Expected the same Immediate fate; I 
Stept down and amongst the Crowd of Spectators found the 
Seamen of my Sloop, who pray'd me not to Stir from them, 
when in Two Minutes, the Governour Walk'd towards his 
Private Apartm. a Coits^ cast Distant at th' other end of the 
Statehouse, the Gentlemen of the Council following him, and 
after them Walked Mr. Bacon with outragious Postures of 
his Head, Arms, Body, and Leggs, often tossing his hand from 
his Sword to his Hat and after him came a Detachment of 
Fusileers (Musketts not being there in Use)^ Who with their 
Cocks Bent presented their Fusils at a Window of the Assem- 
bly Chamber filled with faces, repeating with Menacing Voices, 
"We will have it. We will have itt," half a Minute when as 
one of our house a person known to many of them. Shook 
his Handkercher out at the Window, Saying "You shall have 
it, You shall have itt," 3 or 4 times; at these Words they sate 
Down their fusils, unbent their Locks and stood Still untill 
Bacon coming back, they followed him to their Main Body; 
In this hubub a Servant of mine got so nigh as to hear the 
Governours Words, and also followed Mr. Bacon, and heard^ 
what he Said, who came and told me. That When the Governour\ 
opened his Breast he Said, "Here! Shoot me, foregod, fair 
Mark, Shoot," often Rehearsing the same, without any other 
Words; Whereto Mr. Bacon Answer'd "No May it please 
your honor. We will not hurt a hair of your Head, nor of any 
other Mans, We are Come for a Comission to save our Lives 
from th' Indians, which you have so often promised, and now 
We Will have it before we go;" 

But when Mr. Bacon followed the Governour and Councill 
with the forementioned impetuos (like Delirious) Actions whil'st 
that Party presented their Fusils at the Window full of Faces, 
He said " Dam my Bloud, I'le Kill Governr Councill Assem- 

^ Akimbo. * Quoit's. 

i^ ' The fusil was a flint-lock gun, of lighter construction than the musket. 



30 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

bly and all, and then He Sheath my Sword in my own heart's 
bloud"; and afterwards 'twas Said Bacon had Given a Signall 
to his Men who presented their fusils at those Casing out at 
the Window, that if he shoud draw his Sword, they were on 
sight of it to fire, and Slay us, So near was the Masacre of us 
all that very Minute, had Bacon in that Paroxism of Phren- 
tick fury but Drawn his Sword, before the Pacifick Hand-^ 
kercher was Shaken out at Window. 

In an hour or more after these violent Concussions Mr. 
Bacon came up to our Chamber and Desired a Commission 
from us to go against the Indians; Our Speaker sat Silent, 
When one Mr. Blayton a Neighbour to Mr. Bacon and Elected 
with him a Member of Assembly for the same County (Who 
therefore durst Speak to him,) made Answer, "'twas not in 
our Province, or Power, nor of any other, save the Kings 
Vicegerent our Govemour" ; he press'd hard nigh half an hours 
Harangue on the Preserving our Lives from the Indians, In- 
specting the Publick Revenues, th' exorbitant Taxes and re- 
dressing the Grievances and Calamities of that Deplorable 
Country, Whereto having no other Answer, He went away 
Dissatisfied. 

Next day there was a Rumour the Govemour and Councill 
had agreed Mr. Bacon shou'd have a Commission to Go Gen- 
erall of the Forces, We then were raising. Whereupon I being 
a Member for Stafford, the most Northern frontier, and where 
the War begun. Considering that Mr. Bacon dwelling in the 
most Southern Frontier County,^ might the less regard the 
Parts I represented, I went to Coll : Cole (an active Member 
of the Councill) desiring his Advise, if Applicacions to Mr. 
Bacon on that Subject were then Seasonable and safe, which 
he approving and earnestly Advising, I went to Mr. Laurence 
who was esteemed Mr. Bacons Principall Consultant, to whom 
he took me with him, and there left me where I was Entertained 
2 or 3 hours with the particular relacions of diverse before re- 
cited Transactions; and as to the matter I spake of, he told 
me, that th' Governour had indeed promised him the Com- 
mand of the forces, and if his Honour shou'd keep his Word 
(which he doubted) He assured me the like care shoud be 
taken of the remotest Corners in the Land, as of his own Dwell- 

^ Henrico. , 



1676] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 31 

ing-house, and pray'd me to Advise him what Persons in those 
parts were most fit to bear Commands. I frankly Gave him 
my Opinion that the most Satisfactory Gentlemen to Gover- 
nour and People, woud be Commanders of the Militia, where- 
with he was well pleased, and himself wrote a List of those I 
Nominated. 

That Evening I made known what had past with Mr. 
Bacon to my Colleague Coll : Mason (whose bottle attendance 
doubled my Task), the matter he liked well, but questioned 
the Governours approbacion of it. 

I Confess'd the Case required Sedate thoughts, reasoning, 
that he and such like Gentlemen must either Command or be 
Commanded, and if on their denials Mr. Bacon shoud take 
distast, and be Constrained to Appoint Commanders out of 
the Rabble, the Governour himself with the Persons and 
Estates of all in the Land woud be at their Dispose, whereby 
their own Ruine might be owing to themselves; In this he 
agreed and said "If the Governour woud give his own Com- 
mission he woud be Content to Serve under Generall Bacon, 
(as now he began to be Intituled,) but first would Consult 
other Gentlemen in the same Circumstances; who all Con- 
cur'd 'twas the most safe barrier in view against pernicious 
Designes, if such shoud be put in Practice; With this I ac- 
quainted Mr. Laurence who went (rejoicing) to Mr. Bacon 
with the good tidings, that the Militia Commanders were in- 
clined to serve under him, as their Generall, in Case the Gov- 
ernour woud please to Give them his own Commissions. 

Wee of the House proceeded to finish the Bill for the War 
which by the Assent of the Governour and Councill being past 
into an Act the Governour sent us a Letter Directed to his 
Majesty, wherein were these Words "I have above 30 Years 
Governed the most flourishing Country the Sun ever Shone 
over, but am now Encompassed with Rebellion like Waters in 
every respect like to that of Massanello^ Except their Leader," 
and of like Import was the Substance of that Letter, But 
We did not believe his Honour Sent us all he Wrote to his 
Majesty. 

Some judicious Gentlemen of our house likewise penn'd a 

^ The fisherman who led the revolt of the populace of Naples in 1647. See 
below, p. 323, note 2. 



32 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Letter or Remonstrance to be sent his maj'tie Setting forth the 
Gradations of those Erupcions, and Two or Three of them 
with Mr. Mings^ our Clerk brought it me to Compile a few 
Lines for the Conclusion of it, which I did, tho' not without 
regret in those Watchfull times, when every Man had Eyes on 
him, but what I wrote was with all possible Deference to the 
Governour and in the most Soft terms My Pen cou'd find the 
Case to Admit. 

Col: Spencer^ being my Neighbour and Intimate friend, 
and a prevalent Member in the Council I pray'd him to In- 
treat the Governour we might be Dissolved, for that was my 
first and shoud be my last going astray from my wonted 
Sphere of Merchandize and other my private Concernments 
into the dark and Slippery Meanders of Court Embarrass- 
ments; He told me the Governour had not (then) Determined 
his Intention, But he wou'd Move his Honor about itt, and in 
2 or 3 dayes we were Dissolved, which I was most heartily 
Glad of, because of my getting Loose againe from being ham- 
pered amongst those pernicious Entanglements in the Laby- 
rinths and Snares of State Ambiguities, and which untill then 
I had not seen the practice nor the dangers of, for it was 
Observ'd that severall of the Members had secret badges of 
Distinction fixt upon 'em, as not docill enough to GaUop the 
future Races, that Court seem'd dispos'd to Lead 'em, whose 
maximes I had oft times heard Whisper'd before, and then 
found Confirm'd by diverse Considerate Gentlemen vizt. "That 
the Wise and the Rich were prone to Faction and Sedition 
but the fools and poor were easy to be Governed." 

Many Members being met One Evening nigh Sunsett, to 
take our Leaves each of other, in order next day to return 
homewards,^ came Genii. Bacon with his hand full of unfolded 

^ James Minge, clerk of the House of Burgesses in 1676, was a signer of the 
grievances of Charles City County, which were so strongly directed against 
Colonel Edward Hill. 

* Colonel Nicholas Spencer was one of the leading men of the colony, rep- 
resenting with the Ludwells and Lee the landed aristocracy. He held the office 
of secretary for a number of years and was one of the judges appointed for the 
trial of Drummond. He died in 1689. 

» This assembly, commonly called the Reforming or Bacon's Assembly, met 
at Jamestown, June 5, and sat until June 25, the day before Bacon marched out 
of town. All the acts of this assembly were afterward declared void both by 



1676] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 33 

Papers, and overlooking us round, walking in the Room Said 
"Which of these Gentlemen shall I Intreat to write a few Words 
for me," where every one looking aside as not willing to Meddle; 
Mr. Lawrence pointed at me Saying " That Gentlemen Writes 
very well," Which I Endeavouring to Excuse, Mr. Bacon came 
stooping to the ground and said " Pray Sr. Do me the Honour 
to write a Line for me." 

This Surprizing Accostment Shockt me into a Melancholy 
Consternation, dreading upon one hand, that Stafford County 
woud feel the smart of his Resentment, if I shoud refuse him 
whose favour I had so lately sought and been generously 
promis'd on their behalf; and on th' other hand fearing the 
Governours Displeasure who I knew woud soon hear of it; 
What Seem'd most Prudent at this Hazadous Dilemma, was 
to Obviate the present impending Peril; So Mr. Bacon made 
me Sit the Whole Night by him filling up those Papers, which 
I then Saw were blank Commissions^ Sign'd by the Govemour 
incerting such Names and Writing other matters as he Dic- 
tated; which I took to be the happy Effects of the Consult 
before mentioned, with the Commanders of the Militia, because 
he gave me the Names of very few others to put into these 
Commissions, and in the Morning he left me with an hours 
worke or more to finish, when Came to me Capt. Carver,^ and 
said he had been to wait on the Generall for a Comission, and 
that he was resolved to adventure his old Bones against the 
Indian Rogues with other the like discourse, and at length 
told me that I was in mighty favour — and he was bid to tell 
me, that whatever I desir'd in the Generals power, was at my 
Service, I pray'd him humbly to thank his Honour and to 
acquaint him I had no other Boon to Crave, than his promis'd 

royal instruction and proclamation, and by formal act of the assembly which 
met at Green Spring, February 20, 1677. {Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 
^1674-1676, §1223.) 

^ Bacon took the title "General of the Virginia War" and issued commis- 
sions to his followers, authorizing them "to impress horse, armes, and furniture 
for and in order to their present march," July, 1676. Many who accepted com- 
missions went vigorously to work to aid him, until the commission was rescinded 
by Berkeley, when they withdrew. 

* Captain William Carver of Lower Norfolk County, merchant and mariner 
I and high sheriff, sided with Bacon. He was captured and put to death and his 
^^state confiscated in January, 1677. 



\ 



34 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Kindnesse to Stafford County, for beside the not being worthy, 
I never had been Conversant in Military matters, and also 
having lived tenderly, my Service cou'd be of no benefit be- 
cause the hardships and fatigues of a Wilderness Campaigne 
woud put a speedy Period to my dales, little Expecting to hear 
of more Intestine Broiles, I went home to Patomack, where 
Reports were afterwards various; We had Account that Gen- 
erall Bacon was March'd with a Thousand Men into the Forest 
to Seek the Enemy Indians, and in a few dales after our next 
News was, that the Govemour had Summoned together the 
Militia of Glocester and Middlesex Counties to the Number 
of Twelve Hundred Men, and proposed to them to follow and 
Suppress that Rebell Bacon; whereupon arose a Murmuring 
before his face "Bacon Bacon Bacon," and aU Walked out of 
the field, Muttering as they went "Bacon Bacon Bacon," 
leaving the Governour and those that came with him to them- 
selves, who being thus abandon'd Wafted over Chesepiacke 
Bay 30 Miles to Accomack where are two Counties of Virginia.^ 

Mr. Bacon hearing of this Came back part of the Way, and 
sent out Parties of Horse Patrolling through every County, 
Canying away Prisoners all whom he Distrusted might any 
more molest his Indian Prosecucion, yet giving liberty to such 
as Pledg'd him their Oaths to return home and live quiet; the 
Copies or Contents of which Oaths I never Saw, but heard 
were very Strict, tho' Httle observed. 

About this time was a Spie Detected pretending himself a 
Deserter who had twice or thrice Come and gone from Party 
to Party and was by Councill of Warr sentenced to Death, 
after which Bacon Declared openly to him, That if any one 
Man in the Army wou'd Speak a Word to save him, he shou'd 
not suffer, which no man appearing to do, he was Executed. 
Upon this Manifestation of Clemency Bacon was applauded 
for a Mercifull Man, not willing to Spill Christian Bloud, nor 
indeed was it said, that he put any other Man to Death in 
Cold Bloud, or Plunder any house; Nigh the same time came 
Majr. Langston with his Troop of horse and Quartered Two 
Nights at my house who (after high Compliments from the 

^ WhUe at Accomac Berkeley lived in the house of Colonel John Custis, 
who offered to advance £1,000 to victual the king's ships. The two Eastern 
Shore counties were Accomac and Northampton. 



1676] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 35 

Generall) told me I was desired to Accept the Lieutenancy for 
preserving the peace in the 5 Northern Counties betwixt Pato- 
mack and Rappahanock Rivers. I humbly thank'd his Honour 
Excusing my self; as I had done before on that Invitation of 
the like Nature at James Town, but did hear he was mightily 
offended at my Evasions and threatened to Remember me. 

The Govemour made a 2d. Attempt comming over from 
Accomack with what men he coud procure in Sloops and Boats, 
forty Miles up the River to James Town, which Bacon hear- 
ing of. Came againe down from his Forest Persuit, and finding 
a Bank not a flight Shot long. Cast up thwart the Neck of the 
Peninsula there in James Town,^ He Stormed it, and took the 
Town, in which Attack were 12 Men Slaine and Wounded But 
the Governour with most of his followers fled back, down the 
River in their Vessells. 

Here resting a few dales they Concerted the Burning of the 
Town, wherein Mr. Laurence and Mr. Drummond owning the 
Two best houses save One, Set fire each to his own house, 
which Example the Souldiers following Laid the whole Town 
(with Church and Statehouse) in Ashes, Saying, The Rogues 
shoud harbour no more there. 

On these reiterated Molestacions Bacon Calls a Conven- 
tion at Midle Plantation^ 15 miles from James Town in the 
Month of August 1676, Where an Oath with one or more Proc- 
lamations were formed, and Writts by him Issued for an As- 
sembly; The Oaths or Writts I never Saw, but One Proc- 
lamation Commanded all Men in the Land on Pain of Death 
to Joine him, and retire into the Wildernesse upon Arivall of 
the forces Expected from England, and oppose them untill they 
shoud propose or accept to treat of an Accommodation, which 
we who lived Comfortably coud not have undergone, so as the 
whole Land must have become an Aceldama^ if Gods exceed- 
ving Mercy had not timely removed him. 

* The scene of the siege and sally was the neck of land formed by Powhatan 
Creek and James River, where the glass factory had formerly stood, the chim- 
ney of which still remained. This point was a clearing of forty-fom* acres, which 
had been purchased by Colonel Francis Moryson and was known as his planta- 
tion. It was also called Paspahegh Old Fields, from the fact that it had been 
formerly occupied by the Paspahegh Indians. Jamestown was burned Sep- 
tember 19, 1676. 

* Where Williamsburg was afterward founded ' Acts i. 19. 



36 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

During these Tumults in Virginia a 2d Danger menaced 
Maryland by an Insmrection in that Province, Complaining 
of their heavy Taxes etc. Where 2 or 3 of the leading Male- 
contents (Men otherwise of Laudable Characters) were put to 
death which Stifled the father Spreading of that flame, Mr. 
Bacon (at this time) press't the best Ship in James River 
Carrying 20 Guns and putting into her his Lieutenant-Generall 
Mr. Bland '^ (a Gentleman newly come thither from England 
to possesse the Estate of his Deceased Uncle late of the Coun- 
cil) and under him the forementioned Capt. Carver formerly 
a Commander of merchants Ships with men and all necessaries, 
he sent her to ride before Accomack to Curb and Intercept all 
small Vessells of War Comission'd by the Govemour Coming 
often over and making Depredations on the Western Shoar, 
as if we had been Forreign Enemies, which gives occasion in 
this place to Digresse a few Words. 

Att first Assembly after the Peace came a Message to them 
from the Govemour for some Marks of Distinction to be set 
on his Loyal friends of Accomack, Who received him in his 
Adversity which when came to be considr'd Col: Warner^ 
(then Speaker) told the House "Ye know that what Mark of 
Distinction his Honour coud have sett on those of Accomack 
unlesse to give them Earmarks or Burnt Marks for Robbing 
and Ravaging honest People, who Stay'd at home and Pre- 
served th' Estates of those who ran away, when none intended 
to hurt 'em." 

Now returning to Capt. Carver the Govemour sent for 
him to come on Shoar, promising his peaceable return, Who 
Answer'd, he could not trust his Word, but if he woud send his 
hand and Seal, he wou'd adventure to Wait upon his Honour, 
which was done, and Carver went in his Sloop well Armed and 

^ Giles Bland, only son of John Bland, was sent to Virginia, in 1671, to man- 
age certain plantations there, known as Kymages, in the parish of Westover. 
He was a man of hot temper and resentful disposition, and having become in- 
volved in a quarrel with Thomas Ludwell, was removed as collector and fined. 
He took sides with Bacon, was captured by Thomas Ludwell's brother Philip, 
and hung, March 15, 1677, at "Bacon's Trench," near Jamestown. The vessel 
seized was that of Captain Larrimore, which was converted from a merchant ship 
into a man-of-war by the addition of guns and men and then sent to Accomac 
to capture Berkeley. 

^ For Colonel Augustine Warner, see below, p. 72, note 1. 



1676] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE / 37 

Man'd with the most trusty of his Men, where he was Caress'd 
with wine etc. and large promises, if he woud forsake Bacon, 
resigne his Ship or joine with him; to all which he Answer'd 
that If he served the Devill he woud be true to his Trust, but 
that He was Resolved to go home and live quiet. 

In the time of this Recepcion and Parley, an Armed Boat 
was prepared with many Oars in a Creek not far off, but out 
of Sight, which when Carver Sail'd, Row'd out of the Creek, 
and it being almost Calm the Boat outwent the Sloop whilst 
all on board the Ship were upon the Deck, Staring at both, 
thinking the Boats Company comming on board by Carvers 
Invitation to be Civilly Entertained in requitall of the Kind- 
ness they Supposed he had received on Shoar, untill Comming 
under the Stern, those in the Boat Slipt Nimbly in at the Gun 
Room Ports with Pistols etc. when one Couragious Gentleman 
ran up to the Deck, and Clapt a Pistoll to Blands Breast, Say- 
ing you are my Prisoner, the Boats Company Suddainly fol- 
lowing with Pistolls Swords etc. and also Capt. Larimore (the 
Commander of the Ship before she was prest) having from the 
highest and hindmost Part of the Stern Interchang'd a Signal 
from the Shoar, by flirting his handkercher about his Nose, 
his own former Crew had laid handspikes ready, which they 
(at that Instant) Caught up etc. So as Bland and Carvers Men 
were Amazed and Yielded. 

Carver seeing a hurly Burly on the Ships Deck, woud have 
gone away with his Sloop, but having little Wind and the Ship 
threatning to Sink him, he tamely Came on Board, where 
Bland and he with their Party were Laid in Irons, and in 3 or 
4 dales Carver was hang'd on Shoar, which Sr. Henry Chiche- 
leyi the first of the Councill then a Prisoner (with diverse 
other Gentlemen) to Mr. Bacon, did afterwards Exclaime 
against as a most Rash and Wicked Act of the Governour, He 
(in particuler) expecting to have been treated by way of Re- 
prizall, as Bacons friend Carver had been by the Governour. 

^ Sir Henry Chicheley, son of Sir Henry Chicheley of Wimple, Cambridge- 
shire, had served in the royal army during the Civil War in England. He came 
to Virginia in 1649, served as burgess and councillor, and in 1675 was command- 
er-in-chief against the Indians. He was commissioned deputy governor, 1673- 
1674, and acting governor, 1678-1680. He lived at Rosegill, Middlesex County, 
and died in 1682. 



38 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Mr. Bacon now returns from his last Expedicion Sick of a 
Flux, without finding any Enemy Indians, having not gone 
far by reason of the Vexations behind him, nor had he one dry 
day in all his Marches to and fro in the Forrest whilst the 
Plantations (not 50 Miles Distant) had a Summer so dry as 
stinted the Indian Com and Tobacco etc. Which the People 
Ascribed to the Pawawings, i. e. the Sorceries of the Indians, 
in a While Bacon dyes^ and was succeeded by his Lieutenant 
Genii. Ingram, who had one Wakelet next in Command under 
him, V^Tiereupon hasten'd over the Governour to York River, 
and with him they Articled for themselves and whom else 
they Could, and so all Submitted and were Pardoned Exempt- 
ing those Nominated and otherwise Proscribed, in a Procla- 
macion of Indempnity, the principall of whom were Lawrence 
and Drummond. 

Mr. Bland was then a Prisoner having been taken with 
Carver, as before is noted, and in few dales Mr. Drumond was 
brought in, when the Governour being on board a Ship came 
Inamediately to Shore and Complimented him with the Iron- 
icall Sarcasm of a low Bend, saying " Mr. Drumond ! You are 
very welcome, I am more Glad to See you, than any man in 
Virginea, Mr. Dnmiond you shall be hang'd in half an hour;" 
Who Answered " WTiat your honour pleases," and as soon as a 
Council of War cou'd meet, his Sentence be dispatcht and a Gib- 
bet erected, (which took up near Two houres) He was Executed. 

This Mr. Drumond was a sober Scotch Gentleman of good 
repute with whome I had not a particuler acquaintance, nor 
do I know the Cause of that rancour his honour had against 
him, other than his Pretensions in Common for the publick 
but meeting him by Accident the Morning I left the Town, I 
advis'd him to be very Wary, for he saw the Governour had 
put a brand upon him. He (gravely expressing my Name) 
Answered, "I am in over Shoes, I will be over Boots," which I 
was sorry to heare and Left him.'^ 

^ Bacon died in October (two dates are given, 18th and 26th) at the house of 
Pate in Gloucester County. The identity of Pate is uncertain. He may have 
been either John Pate, or his nephew, Thomas Pate. For Ingram, see below, 
p. 78, note 1. 

2 After Drummond's death, his wife, an energetic and persistent woman, 
with five children dependent on her, applied for her husband's pay as burgess. 



1676] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 39 

The last Account of Mr. Laurence was from an uppermost 
plantation, whence he and Four others Desperado's with 
horses pistolls etc. March'd away in a Snow Ancle Deep, who 
were thought to have Cast themselves into a Branch of some 
River, rather than to be treated like Drummond. 

Bacons Body was so made away, as his Bones were never 
found to be Exposed on a Gibbet as was purpos'd. Stones being 
laid in his Coffin, Supposed to be done by Laurence. 

Near this time Arrived a small Fleet with a Regiment from 
England Sr. John Berry Admirall, Col : Herbert Jefferies Com- 
mander of the Land forces and Collo. Morrison^ who had 
One Year been a former Governour there, all Three Joined in 
Commission with or to Sr. William Barclay,^ Soon after when 
a Generall Court and also an Assembly were held, where some 
of our former Assembly (with so many others) were put to 
Death, diverse whereof were Persons of honest reputations 
and handsome Estates, as that the Assembly Petitioned the 
Governour to Spill no more bloud, and Mr. Presley at his 
Coming home told me, he believed the Governour would have 
hang'd half the Countrey, if they had let him alone. The 
first was Mr. Bland whose Friends in England had procured 
his pardon to be sent over with the Fleet, which he pleaded at 
his Tryall, was in the Governours Pocket, (tho' Whether 'twas 
so, or how it Came there, I know not, yet did not hear 'twas 
openly Contradicted,) But he was Answered by Collo. Mor- 
rison that he Pleaded his pardon at Swords point, which was 
look'd upon an odd Sort of Reply, and he was Executed (as was 
talked) by private Instructions from England, The Duke of 
York having Sworn "By God Bacon and Bland shoud Dye." 

The Governour went in the Fleet to London, (whether by 

and for reinstatement in his property, a small plantation. She also demanded 
compensation for certain goods, including pipes of wine and casks of brandy that 
had been seized for the king's use by Sir John Berry, one of the English commis- 
sioners. She also brought suit against Lady Berkeley for property confiscated 
by the governor, her son-in-law, Swann, appearing in her behalf. The Lords of 
Trade declared her case to be "very deplorable and a fit object of his Majesty's 
compassion," and, as her cause was upheld by the commissioners, she obtained 
restitution of nearly all that she sought for. 

^ For Berry, Jeffreys, and Moryson, the royal commissioners, see below, 
pp. 101, 102. 

V* Berkeley, then commonly pronounced Barkley. 



40 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Command from his Majesty or Spontaneous I did not hear) 
Leaving Col : Jefferyes in his Place, and by next Shipping Came 
back a Person who waited on his Honour in his Voyage, and 
untill his Death, from whom a report was W^hisper'd about, 
that the King did Say " That old fool has hang'd more men in 
that naked Country, than he had done for the Murther of his 
Father," whereof the Governour hearing dyed soon after 
without having seen his Majesty; Which shuts up this Tragedy. 

Appendix. 

To avoid Incumbring the Body of the foregoing little dis- 
course, I have not therein mentioned the received Opinion in 
Virginia, which very much Attributed the promoting these 
Perturbacions to Mr. Laurance, and Mr. Bacon with his other 
Adherents were esteemed, as but Wheels agitated by the 
Weight of his former and present Resentments, after their 
Choler was raised up to a very high Pitch, at having been (so 
long and often) trifled with on their humble Supplications to 
the Governour for his immediate taking in hand the most 
speedy meanes towards stopping the Continued Effusions of 
so much English Bloud, from time to time by the Indians; 
Which Common Sentiments I have the more reason to be- 
lieve were not altogether groundlesse, because my self have 
heard him (in his familiar discourse) Insinuate as if his fancy 
gave him prospect of finding (at one time or other,) some 
expedient not only to repaire his great Losse, but therewith to 
See those abuses rectified that the Countrey was oppress' d 
with through (as he said) the frowardness avarice and french 
Despotick Methods of the Governour and likewise I know 
him to be a thinking Man, and tho' nicely honest, affable, 
and without Blemish, in his Conversation and Dealings, yet 
did he manifest abundance of uneasiness in the Sense of his 
hard Usages, which might prompt him to Improve^ that In- 
dian Quarrel to the Service of his Animosities, and for this the 
more fair and frequent opportunities offered themselves to 
him by his dwelling at James Town, where was the Concourse 
from all Parts to the Governour and besides that he had Mar- 
ried a Wealthy Widow who kept a large house of publick 

{ ^Make use of. 



1676] THOMAS MATHEWS NARRATIVE 41 

Entertainment unto which resorted those of the best quahty, 
and such others as Businesse Called to that Town, and his 
Parts with his even Temper made his Converse Coveted by 
Persons of all Ranks; So that being Subtile, and having these 
advantages he might with lesse Difficulty discover mens In- 
clinations, and Instill his Notions where he foimd those woud 
be imbib'd with greatest Satisfaction. 

As for Mr. Bacon fame did lay to his Charge the having 
nm out his Patrimony in England Except what he brought to 
Virginia and of that the most Part to be Exhausted, which 
together made him Suspected of Casting an Eye to Search for 
Retrievment in the troubled Waters of popular Discontents, 
wanting Patience to wait the Death of his oppulent Cousin, 
old Collo. Bacon, Whose Estate he Expected to Inherit. 

But he was too young, too much a Stranger there, and of 
a Disposition too precipitate, to Manage things to that length 
those were Carried, had not thoughtfull Mr. Laurence been 
at the Bottom. 



THE HISTORY OF BACON'S AND INGRAM'S 
REBELLION, 1676 



INTRODUCTION 

The History of Bacon's and Ingram's Rebellion, though of 
unknown origin, was written by a resident of Virginia, as the 
text of the narrative shows. The author speaks of Jamestown 
as "our MetropoHs," calls the Virginians "our deare Bretheren 
and countrymen," and refers to Major Page as "once my ser- 
vant." That he was familiar with the course of the rebellion 
is evident from the narrative itself; and that he obtained a 
part of his evidence at first hand appears from his references 
to Captain Grantham and from the elaborate abstracts of 
documents given in the text. Though the style is verbose 
and involved, the general treatment shows the writer to have 
been of a literary turn of mind, well read, proficient at cards, 
sport, and astronomy, and possessed of an unusual sense of 
humor. The manuscript is undoubtedly contemporary with 
the events described and was sent to some one not named, 
probably in Virginia, as it was in Virginia that it was dis- 
covered. 

Toward the close of the eighteenth century, Captain Na- 
thaniel Burwell, hearing that the manuscript was in the hands 
of an "old and respectable" family of the Northern Neck of 
Virginia, secured it as a work of value for the history of the 
colony. The Hon. William A. Burwell, a member of Congress 
from Virginia, finding the history among his relatives' papers, 
sent it to the Hon. Josiah Quincy, a representative in Con- 
gress from Massachusetts in 1812, with permission to print, 
after which the original manuscript was to be returned to the 
owner. The work appeared in the first volume of the sec- 
ond series of the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society (1814), pp. 27-80, but through a misunderstanding the 

45 



46 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

original was retained in the archives of the society. In 1856, 
Conway Robinson, chairman of the executive committee of 
the Virginia Historical Society, wrote to Massachusetts ask- 
ing for the return of the manuscript, but the society, after con- 
sulting with Mr. Quincy, at that time advanced in years and 
failing in memory, declined to comply with Mr. Robinson's 
request, on the ground that the document was the property 
of the society. 

In 1866, the original letter written by Burwell to Quincy 
having come to light, the members of the society learned for 
the first time of the conditions under which the manuscript 
had been placed in their hands and determined to return it 
to Virginia. Finding, however, that the earlier printed ver- 
sion was very imperfect, as it contained many errors in the text 
and was incomplete, the society decided to reprint the manu- 
script and did so in the Proceedings for August, 1866, pp. 299- 
342. The original was then returned to Virginia and is to- 
day among the Burwell manuscripts in the custody of the 
Virginia Historical Society. 

The volume is "in the form of a small octavo, the text, with 
the heading, measuring five and a half by three and a half 
inches, not paged. The portion which remains contains fifty- 
two pages. The chirography is remarkably distinct. Sev- 
eral leaves being destroyed at the beginning and end, there is 
no title, except the running headings on each page. Many of 
the remaining leaves are much injured by time." (Proceed- 
ings, Massachusetts Historical Society, 1866, p. 342, note.) 



THE HISTORY OF BACON'S AND INGRAM'S 
REBELLION, 1676 

The Indians Proseedings. 

for there owne security.^ They found that there store was 
too short to indure a long Seige with out makeing emty belles, 
and that emty belies makes weake hearts, which all ways makes 
an unfit Serving Man to wate upon the God of war. There- 
fore they were resalve, before that there spirits were downe, 
to doe what they could to keepe there stores up; as opper- 
t unity should befriend them. And all though they were by 
the Law of Arms (as the case now stood) prohibited the hunt- 
ing of wilde Deare, they resalved to see what good might be 
don by hunting tame Horsses. Which trade became their 
sport soe long, that those who came on Horsback to the seige, 
began to feare the should be compeld to trot hom a foot, and 
glad if they scap'd so too : for these belegured blades made so 
many salleys, and the beseigers kep such neglegent gards, 
that there was very few days past without som remarkeable 
mischeife. But what can hould out all ways? even stone 
walls yeilds to the not to be gaine-saide summons of time. 
And all though it is saide that the Indians doth the least minde 
their Bellies (as being content with a litle) of any people in 
the world, yet now there bellies began to minde them, and there 
stomacks too, which began to be more inclineable to peace, 
then war; which was the cause (no more Horss flesh being to 
be had) that they sent out 6 of their Werawances (cheife men) 
to commence a treaty. What the Artickles were, that they 
brought along with them, to treate of, I do not know; but 
certainly they were so unacceptable to the English, that they 
caused the Commissioners braines to be knock'd out, for dic- 
tateing so badly to there tongues; which yet, 'tis posible, ex- 

1 The narrative opens with the siege of the Indian fort on the upper waters 
of the Potomac, Maryland side. See pp. 18, 19. 

47 



48 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1675 

prest more reason then the English had to prove the lawfuU- 
ness of this action, being Diaraetrecall to the Law of Arms. 

This strange action put those in the Fort to there trumps, 
haveing thus lost som of their prime court cards, without a 
faire dealeing. They could not well tell what interpretation 
to put upon it (nor indeed, nobody ells) and very faine they 

wo[uld] why those, whom they sent out with a [view] 

to suplicate a peace should be worss delt with then [those who] 
were sent out with a sword to denounce a war; but, [no one] 

could be got to make inquirye into the reason of this 

which put them upon a ressalution to forsake there [station, 
and] not to expostulate the cause any further. Haveing [made] 
this resalution, and destroyed all things in the fort, that might 
be servisable to the English, they bouldly, undiscovered, slip 
through the Leagure^ (leaveing the English to prossecute the 
seige, as Schogin's wife brooded the eggs that the Fox had 
suck'd)^ in the passing of which they knock'd ten men o'th 
head, who lay carelessly asleep in there way. 

Now all though it might be saide that the Indians went 
there ways emty handed, in regard they had left all there 
plunder and welth behinde them in the fort, yet it cannot be 
thought that they went away emty hearted : For though that 
was pritty well drained from it's former curage, through those 
inconvenencies that they had bin subjected to by the seige, 
yet in the roome thereof, rather then the venticles should lie 
voide, they had stowed up so much mallize, entermixt with a 
ressalution of revenge, for the afifrunt that the English had 
put upon them, in killing there messingers of peace, that they 
resalved to commence a most barberous and most bloody 
war. 

The Beseigers haveing spent a grate deale of ill imployed 
time in pecking at the huske, and now findeing the shell open, 
and mising the expected prey, did not a litle woonder what 
was be com of the lately impounded Indinans, who, though at 
present the could not be scene, yet it was not long before that 
they were heard off, and felt too. For in a very short time 
they had, in a most inhumane maner, murthered no less then 

^ Leagure, probably for "leaguer," the besieging camp of the enemy. 
2 An allusion to Scoggan's Jests (1626 and later editions), a seventeenth- 
century "Joe Miller." 



1675] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 49 

60 innocent people, no ways guilty of any actuall injury don 
to these ill disarning, brutish heathen. By the blood of these 
poore soules, they thought that the wandering ghosts of those 
there Commissioners, before mentioned, might be atton'd, and 
lade downe to take there repose in the dismall shades of death, 
and they, at present, not obliged for to prossecute any further 
revenge. Therefore to prove whether the English was as redy 
for a peace, as themselves, they send in there remonstronce 
in the name of there [Chief, (tajken by an English interpreter,) 
unto the Governour [of Vergjinia, with whom he expostulates 
in this sort. Wh[at was it] that moved him to take up Arms, 
against him, his pr[ofessed] friend, in the behalfe of the Mary- 
landers, his profes[sed enejmies, contrary to that league made 
betwene [him] and himself e? Declares as well his owne as 
su[bjects] greife to finde the Verginians, of Friends, without 
any cause given, to becom his foes, and to be so eager in their 
groundless quarill, as to persew the chase into anothers domin- 
ions : Complaines, that his mesingers of peace were not oneley 
murthered by the English, but the fact countinanced by the 
Governour's Connivance : For which, seeing no other ways to 
be satisfied, he had revenged him self, by killing 10 for one of 
the Verginians, such being the disperportion betwene his grate 
men murther'd, and those, by his command, slane. That now, 
this being don, if that his honour would alow him a valluable 
satisfaction for the damage he had sustained by the war, and 
no more concerne himselfe in the Marylanders quarill, he was 
content to renew and confirm the ancient league of amety; 
other ways him selfe, and those whom he had ingaged to his 
intress (and there owne) were resalved to fite it out to the 
last man. 

These proposealls not being assented to by the English, 
as being derogetory and point blanke, both to honour and in- 
tress, these Indians draw in others (formerly in subjection to 
the Verginians) to there aides: which being conjoyned (in 
seperate and united parties) they dayly commited abundance 
of ungarded and imrevenged murthers, upon the English; 
which they perpretated in a most barberous and horid manor. 
By which meanes abundance of the Fronteare Plantations 
became eather depopulated by the Indians cruletys, or de- 
sarted by the Planters feares, who were compelled to forsake 



50 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1675 

there abodes, to finde security for there hves; which they 
were not to part with, in the hands of the Indiands, but under 
the worst of torments. For these brutish and inhumane brutes, 
least their cruilties might not be thought cruill enough, they de- 
vised a hundred ways to torter and torment those poore soules 
with, whose reched fate it was to fall in to there unmercyfull 
hands. For som, before that they would deprive them of 
there lives, they would take a grate deale of time to deprive 
them first of there skins, and if that life had not, throug[h the 
ang]uish of there paine, forsaken there tormented bodyes, 
they [with] there teeth (or som instrument,) teare the nailes 
of [their fingers and their] toes, which put the poore sufferer 
to a wo[ful condition. One was prepared for the fla]mes at 
James Towne, who indured [much, but found means] to escape. 

Those who had the another world, was to have 

to be attributed to there more then can xpire 

with or other wayes to be slane out rite, for least that 

there Deaths should be attributed unto som more mercyfuU 
hands then theares, for to put all out of question, they would 
leave som of there brutish Markes upon there fenceless bodies, 
that might testifye it could be none but they who had com- 
mited the fact. 

And now it was that the poore distresed and dubly afflicted 
Planters began to curss and execrate that ill manidged buisness 
at the Fort. There cryes were reitterated againe and againe, 
both to God and man for releife. But no appeareance of long 
wish'd for safety ariseing in the Horrison of there hopes, they 
were redy, could they have tould which way, to leave all and 
forsake the CoUony, rather then to stay and be expos'd to the 
crewiltys of the barberous heathen. 

At last it was concluded, as a good expedient for to put the 
countrey in to som degree of safety, for to plant Forts upon the 
Fronteres,^ thinkeing there by to put a stop unto the Indians 
excurssions: which after the expence of a grate deale of time 
and charge, being finished, came short of the designed ends. 
For the Indians quickly found out where about these Mouse 
traps were sett, and for what purpose, and so resalved to keepe 
out of there danger; which they might easely ennough do, with 
out any detriment to there designes. For though here by 

^ For the forts, see p. 108. 



1675] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 51 

they were compeld (tis posible) to goe a litle about, yet they 
never thought much of there labour, so long as they were not 
debar'd from doing of Mischeife; which was not in the power 
of these forts to prevent : For if that the English did, at any 
time, know that there was more ways in to the wood then one, 
to kill Deare, the Indians found more then a thousand out of 
the wood, to kill Men, and not com neare the danger of the 
forts neather. 

The small good that was by most expected, and now by 
[them expe]rienc'd from these useless fabricks (or castells, if 

a a marvellous discontent amongst the people 

the charge would be grate, and the benifitt arise out 

of these wolfe-pi came every day losers; and 

Banke, if it do not inc to cast about for so lost. 

It vext t[he hearts of many that they should] be compeld to 
worke all the day, (nay all the yeare), for to reward those 
Mole-catchers at the forts, (no body knew for what,) and at 
night could not finde a place of safety to lie downe in, to rest 
there wery bones, for feare they should be shatter'd all to 
peices by the Indians; upon which consideration they thought 
it best to petition the downe fall of these useless (and like to 
be) chargeable fabricks, from whose continuance they could 
neather expect proffitt nor safety. 

But for the effecting of this buisness, they found them 
selves under a very grate disadvantage. For though it may 
be more easier to cast downe, then irect, well cemented struc- 
turs, yet the rule doth not hould in all cases. For it is to be 
understood that these Forts were contrived, eather by the 
sole command of the Governour, or other ways by the advice 
of those whose judgments, in this affaire, he approved off; 
eather of which was now, they being don, his owne emediate 
act, as they were don in his name; which to have undon, at 
the simple request of the people, had bin, in efect, to have un- 
don that Repute he all ways held, in the peoples judgment, 
for a wise Man ; and better that they should suffer som small 
inconvenencies, then that he should be counted less diserning 
then those, who, till now, were counted more then halfe blinde. 
Besides, how should he satisfie his honour with the under- 
takers of the worke ? If the peoples petition should be granted, 
they must be disapointed, which would have bin litle less then 



52 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1675 

an undoeing to them allsoe, in there expectation of proffitt to 
be raised from the worke. Here by the people quickly found 
them selves in an errour, when that they apprehended what a 
strong foundation the Forts were irected upon, honour and 
proffitt, against which all there saping and mineing had no 
power to over turne; they haveing no other ingredience to 
makeing up there fire works with but prayers, and miss spent 
teares and intreties; which haveing vented to no purpose, and 
finding there condition every whit as bad, if not worse since, 

as before, the forts were made, they resalved le patience 

was set to worke. 

many to hope in the countin- of no long 

being in the cou- state; and nerely related to one 

gnity. A Man^ he was of larger hich rendred him in- 

deared (if not not for any thing he had yet don, as the 

cause of there affections, but what they expected he would 
doe to disarve there devotion; while with no common zeale, 
they send up there reitterated prayers, first to him self, and 
next to Heaven, that he may becom there Gardian Angle, to 
protect them from the cruilties of the Indians, against whom 
this Gent: man had a perfict antipothey. 

It seemes, in the first rise of the War, this Gent: man had 
made som overtures unto the Governour for a Commission, to 
go and put a stop to the Indians proseedings. But the Gov- 
ernour, at present, eather not willing to commence the quarill 
(on his part) till more suteable reasons prisented, for to urge 
his more severe prosecution of the same, against the heathen : 
or that he douted Bacons temper, as he appear'd Populerly 
inclin'd; A constetution not consistant with the times, and 
the peoples dispossitions; being generally discontented, for 
want of timely provissions against the Indians, or for Annuall 
impositions lade upon them, too grate (as they saide) for them 
to beare, and against which they had som considerable time 
complained, without the least redress. For these, or som 
other reasons, the Governour refused to comply with Bacon's 
proposalls. Which he lookeing upon as an undervalluing as 
well to his parts, as a disperidgment to his pretentions, hee in 
som elated and passionate expressions sware. Commission or 
no Commission, the next man or woman that he heard of that 

^ "A Man" refers to young Nathaniel Bacon. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 53 

should be kild by the Indians, he would goe out against them, 
though but 20 men would adventure the servis with him. Now 
it so unhappylie fell out, that the next person that the Indians 
did kill, was one of his owne Familey. Where upon haveing 
got together som 70 or 80 persons, most good Howsekeepers, 
well armed, and seeing that he could not legally procure a 

Commission (after som struglings with the Govemour 

Scuffell) and som of his best friends, co terprise, he 

applyes hi his oath, and so forth ans. 

The Govemour could not this insolent deportment 

of Bac ed at his proseedings. Which insteade 

of seekeing meanes to appease his anger, they devised meanes 
to increase it, by frameing specious pretences, which they 
grounded upon the bouldness of Bacons actions, and the peo- 
ples affections. They began (som of them) to have Bacons 
Merits in mistrust, as a Luminary that thretned an eclips to 
there riseing gloryes. For though he was but a yong man, 
yet they found that he was master and owner of those indu- 
ments which constitutes a Compleate Man (as to intrincecalls), 
wisdom to apprehend and descretion to chuse. By which im- 
belishments (if he should continue in the Governours favour) 
of Seniours they might becom juniours, while there younger 
Brother, through the nimbleness of his wit, might steale away 
that blessing, which they accounted there owne by birthright. 
This rash proseedings of Bacon, if it did not undo himselfe, 
by his faileing in the enterprise, might chance to undo them in 
the affections of the people ; which to prevent, they thought it 
conduceable to there intress and establishment, for to get the 
Governour in the minde to proclame him a Rebell ; as knowing 
that once being don, since it could not be don but by and in 
the Governours name, it must needs breed bad blodd betwene 
Bacon and Sir William, not easely to be purged. For though 
Sir William might forgive what Bacon, as yet, had acted ; yet 
it might be questionable whether Bacon might forget what Sir 
William had don: However, according to there desires, Ba- 
con and all his adhereance was proclamed a Rebell, May the 
29, and forces raised to reduce him to his duty. With which 
the Govemour advanced from the Midle Plantation to finde 
him out; and if neede was to fight him, if the Indians had 
not knock'd him, and those with him, on the head, as som 



54 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

were in hope they had don, and which by som was ernistly 
desired. 

After som few days the Governour retracts his march (a 
jurnye of som 30 or 40 miles) to meet with the Assembley/ 
now redy to sit downe at our Metropolhs, while Bacon in the 
meane time meets with the Indians, upon whom he falls with 
abundance of ressalution and gallentrey (as his owne party 
relates it) in there fastness ; killing a grate many, and blowing 
up there Magazene of Arms and Pouder, to a considerable 

quantity y his self, no less then 4000 weight. This 

[being done, and all his] Provissions spent, he returns hom to 

his e, where he submits him selfe to be chosen Bur[gess 

of t]he County in which he did live, contrary to his qualifica- 
tions, take him as he was formerly one of the Councell of State, 
or as hee was now a proclamed Rebell. How ever, he applyes 
him selfe to the performance of that trust reposed in hun, by 
the people, if he might be admited into the Howse. But this 
not fagging^ according to his desire, though according to 
his expectation, and he remaneing in his sloope (then at Ancor 
before the Towne) in which was about 30 Gent : men besides 
himselfe, he was there surprised with the rest, and made pris- 
soner, som being put into Irons: in which condition they re- 
maned som time, till all things were fitted for the triall. Which 
being brought to a day of heareing, before the Governour and 
Councell, Bacon was not onely acquited and pardoned all mis- 
demeniors, but restored to the Councell Table as before; and 
not onely, but promised to have a Commission signed the 
Monday following (this was on the Saterday) as Generall for 
the Indian war, to the universall satisfaction of the people, 
who passionately desired the same; witnessed by the ginerall 
acclameations of all then in towne. 

And here who can do less then wonder at the muteable and 
impermenent deportments of that blinde Codes Fortune; who 
in the morning loades Man with disgraces, and ere night 
crownes him with honours: Somtimes depressing, and againe 
ellivateing, as her fickle humer is to smile or frowne, of which 
this Gent : mans fate was a kinde of an Epittemey, in the sev- 

^The assembly met on June 5; on the 7th Bacon came to Jamestown in 
his sloop; and on the 10th he was promised the commission. 
* Developing. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 65 

erall vicissetudes and changes he was subjected to in a very- 
few dayes. For in the morning, before his triall, he was, in 
his Enimies hopes, and his Friends feares, judged for to re- 
ceve the Gurdian due to a Rebell (and such hee was pro- 
clamed to be) and ere night, crowned the Darhng of the Peo- 
ples hopes and desires, as the onely man fitt in Verginia, to 
put a stop unto the bloody ressalutions of the Heathen : And 
yet againe, as a fuller manifestation of Fortune's inconstancye, 
with in two or three days, the peoples hopes, and his desires, 
were both frusterated by the Governours refuseing to signe the 
promised Commission. At which being disgusted, though at 
present he desembled so well as he could, (and tis sup- 
posed that w he beggs leave of the Govemour for to 

be despence his servis at the Councell table, to vissit 

his L he saide, had informed him, was indisposed,^ as 

to her which request the Governour (after som con- 
test with his owne thoughts) granted, contrary to the advise 
of som about him, who suspected Bacons designes, and that it 
was not so much his Lady's sickness, as the distempers of a 
troubled minde, that caused him to with draw to his owne 
house, and that this was the truth, with in a few days was 
manifested, when that he returned to Towne at the head of 
500 Men in Arms. 

The Governour did not want intillegence of Bacons de- 
signes, and therefore sent out his summons for Yorke Traine 
Bands to reinforce his gards, then at Towne. But the time 
was so short (not above 12 howers warning) and those that 
appeared at the Randevouze made such a slender number, 
that under 4 Insignes there was not mustered above 100 
Soulders, and not one halfe of them sure neather, and all so 
slugish in there march, that before they could reach towne, 
by a grate deale, Bacon had enter'd the same, and by force 
obtained a Commition, calculated to the hight of his owne 
desires. With which Commission (such as it was) being in- 
vested, hee makes redy his provissions, fills up his Companies 
to the designed number (500 in all) and so applies him selfe to 
those servises the Countrey expected from him. And, first, 
for the secureing the same from the excursions of the Indians, 

^ Bacon desired to return to Henrico to visit his wife, who, he declared, 
was sick. 



56 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

in his absence (and such might be expected) he commissionated 
severall persons (such as he could confide in) in every respec- 
tive county, with select companies of well armed men, to range 
the Forists, swomps, thickits, and all such suspected places 
where the Indiands might have any shelter for the doeing of 
mischeife. Which proseedings of his put so much curage into 
the Planters, that they began to applye them selves to there 
accustomed imployments in there plantations: which till now 
they durst not do, for feare of being knock'd on the head, as, 
God knowes, too many were, before these orders were ob- 
served. 

While the Generall (for so was Bacon now denominated by 
vertue of his Commission) was sedulous in these affaires, and 
fitting his provissions, about the head of Yorke River, in order 
to his advance against the Indians,'^ the Governour was steare- 
ing quite contrary courses. He was once more perswaded 
(but for what reasons not visible) to proclaime Bacon a Rebell 
againe. And now since his absence afforded an advantage, 
to raise the countrey upon him, so soone as he should returne 
tired and exhausted by his toyle and labour in the Indian 
war. For the puting this councell in execution, the Gover- 
nour steps over into Gloster County, (a place the best replen- 
ished for men, arms, and affections of any County in Verginia), 
all which the Governour summons to give him a meeteing at a 
place and day assigned, where being met, according to the 
summons, the Governours proposalls was so much disrellished, 
by the wholl convention, that they all disbanded to there 
owne aboades, after there promise past to stand by, and as- 
sist the Governoure, against all those who should go about to 
rong, eather his parson,^ or debase his Authority; unto which 
promise they annext, or subjoyned severall reasons why they 
thought it not, at present, convenient to declare them selves 
against Bacon, as he was now advanceing against the common 
enimy, who had in a most barberous maner murthered som 
hundreds of our deare Breatheren and Countrey Men, and 
would, if not prevented by God, and the endeviours of good 

* Bacon marched on Jamestown Thursday, June 22; the commission was 
drawn up on the 23d and delivered on the 24th. On the 25th the assembly 
broke up, and on the 26th Bacon began his march against the Indians. 

2 Person. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 57 

men, do there utmost for to cut of the wholl Collony. There- 
fore they did thinke that it would be a thing inconsistant 
with reason, if that they, in this desperate conjunture of time, 
should go and ingage themselves one against another ; from the 
result of which proseedings, nothing could be expected but 
ruing and destruction unto both, to the one and the other 
party, since that it might reasonably be conceved, that while 
they should be exposeing there brests against one anothers 
wepons, the barberous and common enimy (who would make 
his disadvantages [sic] by our disadvantages) should be upon 
there backs to knock out there brains. But if it should so 
hapen (as they did hope it would never so hapen) that the 
Generall after the Indian war was finished, should attempt any 
thing against his Hon'rs person or Goverment, that then they 
would rise up in arms, with a joynt consent, for the prisarva- 
tion of both. 

Since the Govemour could obtaine no more, he was, at 
present, to rest himselfe contented with this, while those who 
had advised him to these undertakeings, was not a Htle dis- 
satisfide to finde the event not to answer there expectations. 
But he at present, seeing there was no more to be don, since 
he wanted a power to have that don, which was esteemed the 
maine of the affaires, now in hand to be don, namely, the gaine- 
ing of the Gloster men, to do what he would have don, he 
thought it not amiss to do what he had a power to do, and that 
was once more to proclame Bacon a Tratour, which was per- 
formed in all pubHck places of meetings in these parts. The 
noyse of which proclameation, after that it had past the ad- 
mireation of all that were not aquainted with the reasons 
that moved his honor to do what he had now don, soone 
reached the Generall eares, not yet stopt up from lisning to 
apparent dangers. 

This strange and unexpected news put him, and som with 
him, shrodely^ to there trumps, beleveing that a few such 
deales, or shuffles (call them which you please) might quickly 
ring the cards, and game too, out of his hand. He perceved 
that he was falne (like the corne betwene the stones) so that 
if he did not looke the better about him, he might chance to 
be ground to powder. He knew that to have a certaine enimy 

' Shrewdly. 



58 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

in his frunt, and more then uncertaine friends in his reare, 
portended no grate security from a violent death, and that 
there could be no grate differance betwene his being wounded 
to death in his brest, with bows and Arows, or in the back 
with Guns and Musquit buUits. He did see that there was 
an abseluted necessity of destroying the Indians, for the pris- 
arvation of the English, and that there was som care to be taken 
for his owne and soulders safety, otherways that worke must 
be ill don, where the laberours are mad criples, and compeld, 
insteade of a sword, to betake themselves to a c[ru]tch. It 
vext him to the heart (as he was heard to say) f [or] to thinke, 
that while he was a hunting Wolves, Tygers and Foxis, which 
dayly destroyed our ha[r]mless Sheep and Lamb[s,] that hee, 
and those with him, should be persued in the re[are], with a 
full crye, as a more salvage or no less rave[nous] beast. But 

to put all out of doubt, and himselfe into gree of safety, 

since he could not tell but that som [whom] he had left behinde, 
might not more desire his de[ath,] then to here that by him 
the Indians were dest[royed, he] forth with (after a short con- 
sultation held with [som of his soulde]rs) countermarcheth his 
Army, and in a trice [ ] with them at the midle Plantation, 
a place sit[uated in the] very heart of the Countrey. 

The first thing that Bacon fell upon (after [that he had] 
setled himselfe at the Midle Plantation) was [to prepare] his 
Remonstrance, and that as well against [the Governo]urs 
Paper of the 29 of May,^ as in answer to th[e Governours 
pro]clamation. Puting both papers upon these D[eclarations, 
he asks] Whether Parsons wholly devoted to there Kin[g and 
coun]trey, haters of all sinester, and by respects, am[ing on]ly 
at the Countreys good, and indeviouring to th[e utmost of 

there] power, to the haserd of there lives and fortunes, 

destroy those that are in Arms against King and that 

never plotted, contrived, nor indevioured ion, detre- 

ment or rong of any of his Majesties [subjects, in] there lives, 
names, fortunes, or estates, can desarve the appellations of 
Rebells and Traters? He cites the wholl country to testifye 
his and his soulders peaceable behaviours; upbrades som in 
Authorety with the meaness of there parts; others, now 

^ The "paper of the 29 of May" was Berkeley's third proclamation declar- 
ing Bacon a rebel. It is printed in Neill, Virginia Carolorum, p. 351. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 59 

welthey, with the meaness of there estates, when the came 
first in to the Country; and questions by what just ways, or 
meanes, they have obtained the same ; and whether they have 
not bin the spunges that have suck'd up and devoured the 
common tresurye? Questions what Arts, Ciences, Schooles 
of learning or Ma[n]ufacteres hath bin promoted by any now 
in Authorety? Justifyes his averssion (in generall) against 
the Indians; Upbrades the Governour for manetaineing there 
quarill (though never so unjust) against the Christians rites 
and intress; His refuseing to admit an Enghsh man's oath 
against an Indian, when that an [In]dians word shall be a 
sufiicient proofe against an [Enjglish Man: Saith som thing 
against the Governour [conjcerning the Beaver trade, as not 

in his power to de off, as being a Monopley appertaine- 

ing to the Cro[wn] : Questions whether the Traders at the heads 

of the s do not buy and sell the blood of there deare 

Brther untrey men : Araignes one Coll : Coles^ ascer- 

tion [for sayijng that the English are bound to protect the 
Indpans] or to the haserd of there blood ; and so con- 
cludes with a]n appeale to King and Parliament, where he 
[has no doubt] but that his and the Peoples cause will be 
im[partially h]eard. 

[After this manner] the Game beginns, in which (though 

never so the one side must be, undoutedly, losers. 

This nee of Bacons was but the Prseludum (or rath 

e) to the following Chapter; without which the t 

(in peoples mindes) be subject to rong interpre other 

ways look'd upon to be, at best, but Hetro he inditers 

good meaneing. 

his next worke was to invite all that had [any 

regar]d to themselves, or love to there Countrey, the 

Children, or any other relations; to give [him a meeting] in 
his Quarters, at a day named, then and the[re to consu]lt how 
to put the countrey in to som degree of safety, and to indevoure 
for to stop those imminent dangers, now thretning the destruc- 
tion of the wholl Collony, through the bloody proseedings of 
the Indians; and (as he said) by Sir William B. doteing and 

^ For Colonel William Cole, see p. 23, note 1. The text here is an abstract 
of Bacon's manifesto, issued from Middle Plantation. See Virginia Magazine 
of History, I. 55-63. 



60 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

ireguler actings. Desireing of them not to sit still, in this 
common time of callamitye, with there hands in there bosums; 
or as unconcer'd spectaters, stand gazeing upon their approche- 
ing ruinys, and not lend a hand to squench those flames now 
likely to consume them and theres to ashes. 

According to the summons, most of the prime Gent : men 
in these parts (where of som were of the Councell of State) 
gave Bacon a meeteing in his quarters, at the assigned time. 
Where being met (after a long Harange by him made, much 
of the nature of, and to explane the summons) he desired them 
to take the same so far in to there consideration, that there 
might, by there wisdom, som expedient [be] found out, as well 
for the countryes securytie against Sir Williams Ireguler pro- 
seedings, as that hee, and Armye, might unmoUest prossecute 
the Indian war. Ading, that neather him selfe, nor those 
under his command, thought it a thing consisting with reason, 
or common sence, to advance against the common Enimy, and 
in the meane time want insureance (when they had don the 
worke abrode) not to have their throtes cut, when they should 
return hom, by those whoe had set them to worke : being con- 
fident that Sir William and som others with him, through a 
sence of their unworantable actions, would do what was pos- 
ible to be don, not onely to destroy himself, but others (privie 
to their knavereys) now ingaged in the Indian servis with him. 

After that Bacon had urg'd, what he thought meet for the 
better carjdng on of those affaires, now hammering in his head, 
it was concluded by the wholl Convention, that for the estab- 
lishing the Generall, and Army, in a consistancy of safety, 
and that as well upon his march against the Indians, as when 
that he should returne from the servis, and allso for the keepe- 
ing the Countrey in peace, in his absence, that there should be 
a test, or recognition,^ drawne, and subscribed by the wholl 
Countrey, which should oblige them and every of them, not 
to be aideing nor assisting to Sir Will. Berkley (for now he 
would not afford him the title of Governour) in any sorte, to 
the molestation, hinderance or detriment of the Ginerall and 
Army. This being assented to, the Clarke of the Assembley was 
ordred to put the same in to forme; which while he was a 
doeing, the Generall would needs have another branch added 

1 The oath of August 3. See pp. 35, 122. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 61 

to the former, viz. That the people should not onely be 
obliged not to be aideing unto Sir W : B. against the Generall, 
but that by the force of this Recognition, they should be 
obliged to rise in Arms against him, if he with armed forces 
should offer to resist the Generall, or desturb the Countries 
peace, in his absence : and not onely so, but (to make the in- 
gagement Al-a-mode Rebellion) he would have it added, that 
if any forces should be sent out of England, at the request of 
Sir William, or other ways to his aide, that they were likewise 
to be aposed, till such time as the Countrys cause should be 
sent hom, and reported to his most Sacred Majesty. 

These two last branches of this Bugbeare did marvellously 
startle the people, especially the very last of all, yet for to 
give the Generall satisfaction how willing they were to give 
him all the security that lay in there power, they seemed will- 
ing to subscribe the two first, as they stood single, but not to 
any, if the last must be joyned with them. But the Generall 
used, or urged, a grate many reasons for the signeing the wholl 
ingagement, as it was presented in the three con joyned 
branches, other ways no securitye could be expected, neather 
to the Countrey, Armye, nor himselfe : therefore he was re- 
salved, if that they would not do, what hee did judg soe 
reasonable, and necessary to be don, in and about the pre- 
mises, that he would surrender up his Commission to the As- 
sembley, and let the countrey finde som other servants to goe 
abrode and do there worke. 

For, sath he, it is to be considered, that Sir William hath 
allredy proclamed me a Rebell, and it is not unknowne to 
himselfe that I both can, and shall charge him with no less then 
Treason. And it is not my selfe onely, that must and is con- 
cerned in what shall be charged against him, but several! 
Gent : men in the countrey, besides ; who now are, and ever 
will be against his intress, and of those that shall adhere to his 
ilegall proseedings: of which he being more then ordnarely 
senceable, it cannot in common reason be otherways conceved, 
but that he being assisted by those forces, now imploied, that 
they shall not be wholly imployed to the destruction of all 
those capeable to frame an accuseation against him, to his 
sacred Majesty. Neather can it reasonably be apprehended, 
that he will ever condesend to any friendly accomadation wth 



62 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

those that shall subscribe to all, or any part of this ingage- 
ment, unless such or such persons shall be surrendred up to 
his marcy, to be proseeded against, as he shall thinke fitt : and 
then how many, or few, those may be, whom he shall make 
choyce of, to be sent into the tother world, that he may be 
rid of his feares in this, may be left to consideration. 

Many things was (by many of those who were at this meet- 
ing) urged pro and con, concerning the takeing or not takeing 
of the ingagement : But such was the ressalute temper of the 
Generall, against all reasoning to the contrary, that the whoU 
must be swoUowed, or ells no good would be don. In the urg- 
ing of which he used such specious and sub till pretences; som 
times for the pressing, and not to be despenced with necessity, 
in regarde of those feares the whoU CoUony was subjected to 
through the daly murthers perpetrated by the Indians, and 
then againe opening the harmlesness of the Oath, as he would 
have it to be, and which he manidged solely against a grate 
many of those counted the wisest men in the Countrey, with 
so much art and sophisticall dixterety, that at length there 
was litle said, by any, against the same : Especially when that 
the Guner of York Fort^ arived, imploreing aide to secure the 
same against the Indians; ading that there was a grate many 
poore people fled into it for protection, which could not be, 
unless there was som speedy course taken to reinforce the said 
Fort, with Munition and Arms, other ways it, and those fled 
to it, would go nere hand to fall in to the power of the Heathen. 

The Generall was som what startled at this newes, and 
accordingly expostulated the same, how could it posible be 
that the most conciderablest fortris in the countrey, should 
be in danger to be surprised by the Indians. But being tould 
that the Governour, the day before, had caused all the Arms 
and Amunition to be convayed out of the Fort into his owne 
vessell, with which he was saled forth of the Countrey, as it 
was thought, it is strange to thinke, what impressions this 
Story made upon the peoples apprehentions. In ernist this 
action did stager a grate many, otherways well inclined to Sir 
William, who could not tell what constructions to put upon 
it. How ever, this was no grate disadvantage to Bacons de- 

1 One of the forts ordered by the assembly in March, 1676, to be built for 
defense against the Indians. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 63 

signes; he knew well enough how to make his advantages out 
of this, as well as he did out of the Gloster buisness, before 
mentioned, by frameing and stomping out to the peoples ap- 
prehentions what commentaries, or interpretations, he pleased, 
upon the least oversight by the Governour commited; which 
hee managed with so much cuning and subtillety, that the 
peoples minds became quickly flexable, and apt to receve any 
impression, or simillitude, that his Arguments should represent 
to there ill disameing judgments; in so much that the Oath 
became now more smooth, and glib, to be swollowed, even by 
those who had the gratest repugnancy against it ; so that there 
was no more descorses used neather for restrictions nor in- 
largements; onely this salvo was granted, unto those who 
would clame the benifit of it (and som did soe) yet not exprest 
in the writen copey (viz.) That if there was any thing in 
the same of such dangerous consequence that might tant the 
subscribers Alegence, that then they should stand absalved 
from all and every part of the sd oath; unto which the Gen- 
erall gave his consent (and certainely he had too much cuning 
to denye, or gaine say it) saying God forbid that it should 
be other ways ment, or intended; adding that himself e (and 
Armye by his command) had som few days before taken the 
Oath of Alegience, therefore it could not Rationally be im- 
magined that eather him selfe, or them, would goe about to 
act, or do, any thing contrary to the meaneing of the same. 

Bad Ware requires a darke store, while Sleeke and Pounce 
inveagles the Chapmans judgment. Though the first sub- 
scribers were indulged the liberty of entering there exceptions, 
against the strict letter of the oath, yet others who were to 
take the same before the respective justices of peace in their 
severall juridictions, were not to have the same lattitude. 
For the power of affording cautions and exceptions was solely 
in the imposer, not in those who should here after administer 
the oath, whereby the aftertakers were obliged to swoUow the 
same (though it might haserd there choakeing) as it stood in 
the very letter thereoff. Neather can I apprehend what beni- 
fit could posible accrew more unto those who were indulged 
the fore sd previllidg, then to those who were debard the same ; 
since both subscribed the ingagement as it stood in the letter, 
not as it was in the meaneing of the subscriber. It is trew, 



64 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

before God and there owne consciences, it might be pleadeable, 
but not at the Bar of humane proseedings, with out a favourable 
interpretation put upon it, by those who were to be the judges. 

While Bacon was contriving and imposeing this lUegall 
Oath, for to secure him selfe against the Governour, the Gov- 
emour was no less soUicious to finde out meanes to secure 
him selfe against Bacon. Therefore, as the onely place of 
securytie within the CoUony, to keep out of Bacons reach, he 
sales over to Accomack. This place is sequestered from the 
mane part of Verginia through the enterposition of the grate 
Bay of Cheispiock, being itselfe an Isthmus, and commonly 
called the Eastern shore. It is bounded on the East with the 
maine oacian, and on the Sowth west with the afore sd Bay, 
which runs up into the countrey navigable for the bigest Ships 
more then 240 miles, and so consequently, not approcheable 
from the other parts of Verginia but by water, without sur- 
rounding the head of the sd Bay : A labour of toyle, time, and 
danger, in regard of the way, and habitations of the Indians. 

It was not long before Bacon was inform'd where the Gov- 
emour had taken Santuary; neather was he ignorant what 
it was that moved him to do what he had don: He did all 
so apprehend that, as he had found the way out, he could 
(when he saw his owne time) finde the way in againe; and 
though he went forth with an emty hand he might return 
with a full fist. For the preventing of which (as he thought) 
he despach'd away one Esqr Bland, a Gent : man of an active 
and stiring dispossition, and no grate admirer of Sir Williams 
goodness; and with him, in Commission, one Capt. Carver, 
a person aquainted with Navigation, and one (as they say) 
indebted to Sir W. (before he dyed) for his life, upon a duble 
account, with forces in two ships, eather to block Sir William 
up in Accomack, or other ways to inveagle the inhabitants 
(thinkeing that all the countrey, like the Friere in the Bush, 
must needs be soe mad as to dance to there Pipe) to surrender 
him up in to there hands. 

Bacon haveing sent Bland, and the rest, to doe this servis, 
once more re-enters upon his Indian march; after that he 
had taken order for the conveineing an Assembley, to sit downe 
on the 4 of September, the Summons being Authentick'd, as 
they would have it, under the hands of 4 of the Councell of 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 65 

State ; and the reason of the Convention to manidge the affaires 
of the Countrey in his absence; least (as he saide) while hee 
went abrode to destroy the Wolves, the Foxes, in the meane 
time, should com and devoure the Sheepe. Hee had not 
march'd many miles from his head quarters, but that newes 
came post hast, that Bland and the rest with him were snapt 
at Accomack; betrade (as som of there owne party related) 
by Capt. Carver: but those who are best able to render an 
acount of this affaire do aver, that there was no other Treason 
made use of but there want of discretion, assisted by the juce 
of the Grape: had it bin other ways the Governour would 
never rewarded the servis with the gift of a Halter, which he 
honoured Carver with, sudenly after his surpriseall. Bland 
was put in Irons, and ill intreated, as it was saide ; most of the 
soulders owned the Governours cause, by entering them selves 
in to his servis ; those that refused were made prissoners, and 
promised a releasement at the price of Carvers fate. 

The Governour being blest with this good servis, and the 
better servis, in that it was efected with out blood shed, and 
being inform'd that Bacon was entred upon his Indian March, 
ships him selfe for the western shore, being assisted with 5 
ships and 10 sloops, in which (as it is saide) was about a thou- 
sand soulders. The newes where of outstriping his can vis 
wings soone reach'd the eares of those left by Bacon, to see 
the Kings peace kep, by resisting the Kings vice gerent. For 
before that the Governour could get over the Water, two 
fugetives was got to land, sent (as may be supposed) from som 
in Accomack, spirited for the Generalls quarill, to inform those 
here, of the same principles, of the Governours strength, and 
upon what terms his soulders were to fight. And first they 
were to be rewarded with those mens estates who had taken 
Bacons Oath, catch that catch could. Secondly that they, 
and there heirs, for 21 years should be discharged from all 
impossition, excepting Church dues, and lastly 12 pence per 
day, dureing the wholl time of servis. And that it was further 
decreed that all Sarvants, whose masters were under the Gen- 
erall Collours, or that had subscribed the ingagement, should 
be set free, and injoy the fore mention'd benifits, if that they 
would (in Arms) owne the Governours cause. And that this 
was the wholl truth, and nothing but the truth, the two men 



66 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

be fore mention'd, deposed before Capt. Thorp one of the 
Just-asses of the peace, for York County, after that one 
Collonell Scarsbrooke^ had more prudently decKned the ad- 
miting these two scoundrills to the test. Whether these Fel- 
lows were in the right, or in the rong, as to what they had 
narated, I know not, but this is certaine, whether the same 
was trew, or false, it produced the efects of truth in peoples 
mindes; who hereby became so much destracted in there 
ressalutions, that they could not tell, at present, which way 
to turn them selves; while there tongues expresed no other 
language but what sounded forth feares, wishes, and execra- 
tions, as their apprehentions, or affections, dictated : All looke- 
ing upon them selves as a people utterly undon, being equally 
exposed to the Governours displeasure, and the Indians bloody 
cruillties; Som cursing the cause of there approcheing destruc- 
tion, lookeing upo the Oath to be no small ingredient, help- 
ing to fill up the measure of there Miserys: Others wishing 
the Generalls presence, as there onely Rock of safety, while 
other look'd upon him as the onely quick sands ordained to 
swollow up and sinke the ship that should set them on shore, 
or keep them from drownding in the whirle poole of confu- 
seion. 

In the midest of these feares and perturbations, the Gover- 
nour arives with his Fleet of 5 ships and 10 sloopes, all well 
man'd (or appear'd to be soe) before the Towne; into which 
the Governour sends his summons (it being possest by 7 or 
800 Baconians) for a Rendition; with a free and ample pardon 
to all that would decline Bacons intress, and owne his, except- 
ing one Mr. Drummond and one Mr. Larance a Collonell, and 
both active promoters of Bacons designes: Which is a most 
apparent argument, that what those two men (before men- 
tioned) had sworn to, was a mere pack of untruths. This his 
Honours Proclamation was acceptable to most in Towne; 
while others againe would not trust to it, feareing to meet 
with som after-claps of revenge : Which diverseity of opinions 
put them all into a ressalution of diserting the place, as not 
Tenable (but indeed had it bin fortifyed, yet they had no 
Commission to fight) while they had the liberty of so doeing, 

1 Colonel Edmund Scarborough of Northampton County. See Wise, The 
Early History of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 67 

before it should be wholly invested; which that night, in the 
darke, they put in execution, every one shifting for him selfe 
with no ordnary feare, in the gratest hast posible, for fere of 
being sent after : And that som of them was posses'd with no 
ordnary feare, may be manifested in Collonell Larence, whose 
spirits were so much destracted, at his apprehentions of being 
one excepted in the Governours act of grace, that he forsooke 
his owne Howse with all his welth and a f aire Cupbord of Plate 
intire standing, which fell into the Governours hands the nex 
Morning. 

The Towne being thus forsaken, by the Baconians, his 
Honour enters the same the next day, about noone; where 
after he had rendred thanks unto God for his safe arivall 
(which he forgot not to perform upon his knees, at his first 
footeing the shore) hee applyes himselfe not onely to secure 
what he had got possesion of, but to increace and inlarge the 
same to his best advantage. And knowing that the people 
of ould useally painted the God of war with a belly to be fed, 
as well as with hands to fight, he began to cast about for the 
bringing in of provissions for to feed his soulders; and in the 
next place for soulders, as well to reinforce his strength with 
in, as to inlarge his quarters abrode: But as the saying is, 
Man may propose, but God will dispose; when that his hon'r 
thought him selfe so much at liberty, that he might have the 
liberty to go when and where he pleased, his expectations 
became very speedily and in a moment frusterated. 

For Bacon haveing don his buisness against the Indians, 
or at least so much as he was able to do, haveing marched his 
men with a grate deale of toyle and haserd som hundreds of 
miles, one way and another, killing som and takeing others 
prissoners, and haveing spent his provissions, draws in his 
forces with in the verge of the English Plantations, from whence 
he dismiseth the gratest part of his Army to gether strength 
against the next designed March, which was no sooner don 
but he incounters the newes of the Governours being arived 
at town. Of which being informed he with a marvellous cel- 
lerity (outstriping the swift wings of fame) marcheth those 
few men now with him (which hee had onely resarved as a 
gard to his parson) and in a trice blocks up the Governour 
in Towne, to the generall astonishment of the whoU Countrey; 



68 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

especially when that Bacons numbers was knowne; which at 
this time did not exseed above a hundred and fifty, and these 
not above two thirds at worke neather. An action of so 
strange an Aspect, that who ever tooke notis of it, could not 
chuse but thinke but that the Accomackians eather intended 
to receve their promised pay, without disart; or other ways 
to establish such signall testimonies of there cowerdize or dis- 
affections, or both, that posterity might stand and gaze at 
there reched stupidety. 

Bacon soone perceved what easey worke he was likely to 
have, in this servis, and so began to set as small an esteeme 
upon these mens curages, as they did upon there owne credits. 
Hee saw, by the Prolog, what sport might be expected in the 
play, and soe began to dispose of his affaires accordingly. 
Yet not knowing but that the paucity of his numbers being 
once knowne, to those in Towne, it might raise there hearts 
to a degree of curage, haveing so much the ods, and that mani- 
times number prevales against ressalution, he thought it not 
amiss, since the Lions strength was too weake, to strengthen 
the same with the Foxes Braines: and how this was to be 
efected you shall heare. 

For emediately he despacheth two or three parties of Horss, 
and about so many in each party, for more he could not spare, 
to bring in to the Camp some of the prime Gent: Women, 
whose Husbands were in towne. Where when arived he sends 
one of them to inform her owne, and the others Husbands, 
for what purposes he had brought them into the camp, namely, 
to be plac'd in the fore frunt of his Men, at such time as those 
in towne should sally forth upon him. 

The poore Gent: Women were mightely astonish'd at this 
project; neather were there Husbands voide of amazements 
at this subtill invention. If Mr. Fuller^ thought it strange, 
that the Divells black gard should be enrouled Gods soulders, 
they made it no less wonderfull, that there innocent and harm- 
less Wives should thus be entred a white garde to the Divell. 
This action was a Method, in war, that they were not well 
aquainted with (no not those the best inform'd in milHtary 
affaires) that before they could com to pearce their enimies 
sides, they must be obliged to dart there wepons through there 

1 Rev. Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), the witty author. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 69 

wives brest: By which meanes though they (in there owne 
parsons) might escape without wounds; yet it might be the 
lamentable fate of there better halfe to drop by gunshott, or 
other ways be wounded to death. 

Whether it was these Considerations, or som others, I do 
not know, that kep their swords in there scabards: But this 
is manifest, That Bacon knit more knotts by his owne head 
in one day, then all the hands in Towne was able to untye 
in a wholl weeke : While these Ladyes white Aprons became of 
grater force to keepe the beseiged from salleing out then his 
works (a pittifull trench) had strength to repell the weakest 
shot, that should have bin sent into his Legure, had he not 
made use of this invention. 

For it is to be noted that rite in his frunt, where he was to 
lodge his Men, the Governour had planted 3 grate Guns, for 
to play poynt blank upon his Men, as they were at worke, at 
about 100 or a 150 paces distance; and then againe, on his 
right hand, all most close aborde the shore, lay the ships, 
with ther broade sides, to thunder upon him if he should offer 
to make an onslaute : this being the onely place, by land, for 
him to make his entrey, into the Towne : But for your better 
satisfaction, or rather those who you may show this Naritive 
to, who have never bin upon the place, take this short descrip- 
tion. 

The place, on which the Towne is built, is a perfict Penin- 
suUa, or tract of Land, all most wholly incompast with Water. 
Haveing on the Sowth side the River (Formerly Powhetan, 
now called James River) 3 miles brode, Incompast on the 
North, from the east point, with a deep Creeke, rangeing in 
a cemicircle, to the west, with in 10 paces of the River; and 
there, by a smalle Istmos, tacked to the Continent. This 
Iseland (for so it is denominate) hath for Longitud (east and 
west) nere upo 2 miles, and for Lattitude about halfe so much, 
beareing in the wholl compass about 5 miles, litle more or 
less. It is low-ground, full of Marches and Swomps, which 
makes the Aire, especially in the Sumer, insalubritious and 
unhelty : It is not at all replenished with springs of fresh water, 
and that which they have in ther Wells, brackish, ill sented, 
penurious, and not gratefull to the stumack; which render 
the place improper to indure the commencement of a seige. 



70 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

The Towne is built much about the midle of the Sowth line, 
close upon the River, extending east and west, about 3 quarters 
of a mile; in which is comprehended som 16 or 18 howses, 
most as is the Church, built of Brick, faire and large; and in 
them about a dozen Families (for all the howses are not in- 
habited) getting there liveings by keepeing of ordnaries, at 
exstreordnary rates.^ 

The Governour understanding that the Gent: Women, at 
the Legure, was, by order, drawne out of danger, resalved, if 
posible, to beate Bacon out of his trench; which he thought 
might easely be performed, now that his Gardian Angles had 
forsaken his Camp. For the efecting of which he sent forth 
7 or (as they say) 800 of his Accomackians, who (like scholers 
goeing to schoole) went out with hevie harts, but returnd 
hom with Hght heeles; thinkeing it better to turne there backs 
upon that storme, that there brests could not indure to strugle 
against, for feare of being gauled in there sides, or other parts 
of there bodys, through the sharpness of the wether; which 
(after a terable noyse of thunder and lightning out of the Easte) 
began to blow with a powder (and som leade too as big as mus- 
quitt boolitts) full in there faces, and that with so grate a 
violence, that som off them was not able to stand upon there 
leggs, which made the rest betake them selves to there heeles, 
as the onely expedient to save there lives; which som amongst 
them had rather to have lost, then to have own'd there safty 
at the price of such dishonourable rates. 

The Governour was exstremly disgusted at the ill manage- 
ment of this action, which he exprest in som passionate terms, 
against those who merited the same. But in ernist, who could 
expect the event to be other ways then it was, when at the 
first notis given, for the designed salley to be put in execution, 
som of the ofi&cers made such crabed faces at the report of the 
same, that the Guner of Yorke Fort did proffer to purchase, 
for any that would buy, a Collonells, or a Captains, Commis- 
sion, for a chunke of a pipe. 

The next day Bacon orders 3 grate Guns to be brought 
into the Camp, two whereof he plants upon his trench. The 

^The topography may be followed by means of Mr. Samuel H. Yonge's The Site 
of Old "James Towne," enlarged edition (Richmond, 1907), or President Lyon G. 
Tyler's The Cradle of the Republic (Williamsburg, second ed., 1906) and their maps 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 71 

one he sets to worke (playing som calls itt, that takes delight 
to see stately structurs beated downe, and Men blowne up 
into the aire like Shutle Cocks) against the Ships, the other 
against the enterance into Towne, for to open a pasage to his 
intended Storm, which now was resalved upon as he said, 
and which was prevented by the Governours forsakeing the 
place, and shiping himself e once more to Accomack; takeing 
along with him all the Towne people, and there goods, leaveing 
all the grate Guns naled up, and the howses emty, for Bacon 
to enter at his pleasure, and which he did the next morning 
before day : Where, contrary to his hopes, he met with nothing 
that might satisfie eather him seKe or soulders desires, except 
few Horses, two or three sellers of wine, and som small 
quantety of Indian Corne with a grate many Tan'd hides. 

The Govemour did not presently leave James River, but 
rested at an Ancor som 20 mUes below the Towne, which made 
Bacon entertaine som thoughts, that eather hee might have a 
desire to re-enter his late left quarters, or return and block 
him up, as he had Sir William. And that there was som prob- 
abillety Sir W. might steare such a course was news from Po- 
tomack (a province within the North Verge of Verginia) that 
CoUonell Brent^ was marching at the head of 1000 Soulders 
towards Towne in vindication of the Governours quarill. The 
better to prevent Sir Williams designes (if he had a desire to 
returne) and to hinder his Conjuntion with Brent (after that 
he had consulted with his Cabinett Councell) he in a most 
barberous maner converts the whoU Towne into flames, cin- 
ders and ashes, not so much as spareing the Church, and the 
first that ever was in Verginia. 

Haveing performed this Flagitious, and sacralidgious ac- 
tion (which put the worst of Sperits into a horid Consternation, 
at so in-humane a fact) he marcheth his men to the Greene 
spring (the Governours howse soe named) ^ where haveing 
stade (feasting his Army at the Governours Cost) two or 3 
days, till he was inform'd of Sir Williams Motion, he wafts 
his soulders over the River, at Tindells point,^ in to Glocester 

^ Colonel Giles Brent, p. 123, note 2. 

2 Three miles above Jamestown. Its brick walls are still standing. 

3 Tindall's Point, now Gloucester Point, opposite Yorktown (Brown, Genesis 
of the United States, no. xlvi). 



'■^ 



72 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

County: takeing up his head quarters at CoUonell Warners;^ 
from whence hee sends out his Mandates, through the wholl 
County, to give him a Meeting at the Court howse; there to 
take the ingagement, that was first promoted at the Midle 
Plantation: for as yet, in this County, it was not admited. 
While he was seduliously contriveing this affaire, one Capt. 
Potter arives in post haste from Rapahanock, with news that 
Coll : Brent was advanceing fast upon him (with a resalution 
to fight him) at the head of a 1000 men, what horss what foote, 
if hee durst stay the commencement. Hee had no sooner red 
the Letter, but hee commands the Drums to beate, for the 
gathering his soulders under there Collours; which being don 
hee aquaints them with Brents numbers and resalutions to 
fight, and then demands theres; which was cherefuUy answered 
in the affirmetive, with showtes and acclemations, while the 
Drums thunders a March to meet the promised conflict. The 
Soulders with abundance of cherefullness disburthening them 
selves of all impediments to expedition, order, and good de- 
cipling, excepting there Oathes, and Wenches : the first whereof 
they retain'd in imitation of there Commanders; the other out 
of pitty to the poore whores; who seeing so many Men going 
to kill one another, began to feare that if they staide behinde, 
for want of doing they might be imdon (there being but a few 
left at hom, excepting ould men, to sett them on worke,) and 
so chose rather to dye amongst the soulders, then to be kep 
from there labour, and so dye for want of exercize. Besides 
they knew if fortune cast them into there enimys hands, they 
had nothing to be plundred of but there honisty; and that, 
as too grate a burthen, and not fitt to be worn in a Camp, 
they had left at hom, thereby to be found the more light, and 
fit for the servis they were destinated to. And then againe 
they had heard a pritty good carrecter of Brent, and they 
could not tell but that all or most of his Men might be as 
good as him selfe; so that let the world go which way it 
would (Stand still with Ptollomye, or turne rownd like a 

^ Colonel Augustine Warner of Gloucester, councillor and speaker of the 
House, whose residence in Abingdon parish, Gloucester County, was at this time 
(September, 1676) forcibly entered by Captain William Byrd, acting under Ba- 
con's orders. Damage was done to the extent of £1000, the amount for which 
Warner afterward obtained a judgment against Byrd. " 



J 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 73 

whorlegigg with Copernicus) they were Hkely to com of with 
a saveing cast, they being onely to change there Masters, not 
the trade they were bound prentis to. 

Bacon had not marched above 2 or 3 days jumey (and 
those but short ones too, as being loth to tire his Laberours 
before they came to there worke) but he meets news in post 
hast, that Brents Men (not soulders) were all run away, and 
left him to shift for him selfe. For they haveing heard that 
Bacon had beate the Governour out o'th Towne they began 
to be afeard (if they should com with in his reach) that he 
might beat them out of there lives, and so resolved not to 
come nere him. Collonell Brent was mightily astonish'd at 
the departure of his followers, saying that they had forsaken 
the stowtest man, and ruing'd the fairest estate in Verginia; 
which was by there cowerdize, or disaffections, expos'd to the 
mercy of the Baconians. But they being (as they thought) 
more obliged to looke after their owne concernes and lives, 
then to take notis, eather of his vallour, or estate, or of there 
owne Credits, were not to be rought upon by any thing that 
he could do, or say, contrary to there owne fancies. 

This buisness of Brents haveing (like the hoggs the devill 
sheard) produced more noyse then wooU, Bacon, according to 
the Summons, meets the Gloster men at the Court howse: 
where appeard som 6 or 7 hundred horss and foot, with there 
Arms. After that Bacon, in a long Harage, had tendred them 
the ingagement (which as yet they had not taken, and now 
was the onely cause of this Convention) one Mr. Cole offered 
the sence of all the Gloster men, there present: which was 
sum'd up in there desires, not to have the oath imposed upon 
them, but to be indulged the benifitt of Neutralitie : But this 
he would not grant, telling off them, that in this there request 
they appear' d like the worst of sinners, who had a desire to be 
saved with the righteous, and yet would do nothing whereby 
they might obtaine there salvation ; and so offering to go away, 
one Coll : Gouge (of his party) calls to him and tould him, that 
he had onely spoke to the Horss (meaneing the Troopers) 
and not to the foote. Bacon, in som passion, replide, he had 
spoke to the Men, and not to the Horss; haveing left that servis 
for him to do, because one beast best would understand the 
meaneing of another. And because a minister, one Mr. 



74 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Wading/ did not onely refuse to take the Ingagement, but 
incouraged others to make him there example, Bacon com- 
mited him to the Gard; telling off him that it was his place 
to Preach in the Church, not in the Camp : In the first he might 
say what he pleased, but in the last, he was to say no more 
then what should please him; unless he could fight to better 
purpose than he could preach. 

The Gloster men haveing taken the ingagement, (which 
they did not till another meeteing, and in another place) and 
all the worke don on this side the Western Shore, Bacon thought 
it not a miss, but worth his labour, to go and see how the Ac- 
comackians did. It must be confest that he was a Gent : man 
of a Liberall education, and so consequently must be replen- 
ish'd with good maners, which inables and obhgeth all civell 
parsons both to remember, and repay, receved curtesies: 
which made him not to forget those kindenesses the Acco- 
mackians bestow'd, in his absence, on his friends, and there 
nighbours, the Verginians: and so now he resalved (since he 
had nothing ells to do) for to go and repay there kinde hearted 
vissitt. But first he thought good to send them word of his 
good meaneing, that they might not pleade want of time, or 
want of knowledg, to provide a reception answerable to his 
quallety, and attendance. This was pritty faire play, but 
really the Accomackians did not halfe like it. They had rather 
his Honour would have had the patience to have stade till he 
had bin invited, and then he should have bin much more 
wellcom. But this must not hinder his jurnye; if nothing ells 
enterveine they must be troubled, with a troublesom guest, 
as well as there neighbours had bin, for a grate while together, 
to their exstreordnary charge, and utter undoeing. But there 
kinde and very mercyfull fate, to whom they and their Posteri- 
tye, must ever remane indebted, observeing there cares and 
feares, by an admireable and ever to be cellibrated providence, 
removed the causes. For 

Bacon haveing for som time bin beseiged by sickness, and 
now not able to hould out any longer, all his strength, and pro- 
vissions being spent, surrendred up that Fort he was no longer 
able to keepe, into the hands of that grim and all conquering 
Captaine, Death; after that he had implor'd the assistance 

1 Rev. James Wadding, of Petsworth parish in Gloucester County. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 75 

of the above mentioned Minester, for the well makeing his 
Artickles of Rendition. The onely Religious duty (as they 
say) he was observ'd to perform dureing these Intregues of 
affaires, in which he was so considerable an actor, and soe 
much consearn'd, that rather then he would decline the cause, 
he became so deeply ingaged in, in the first rise there of, though 
much urged by arguments of dehortations, by his nearest Re- 
lations and best friends, that he subjected him selfe to all those 
inconvenences that, singly, might bring a Man of a more 
Robust frame to his last horn. After he was dead he was 
bemoned in these following lines (drawne by the Man that 
waited upon his person, as it is said) and who attended his 
Corps to there Buriall place: But where depossited till the 
Generall day, not knowne, onely to those who are ressalutly 
silent in that particuler. There was many coppes of Verces 
made after his departure, calculated to the Lattitude of there 
affections who composed them; as a relish taken from both 
appetites I have here sent you a cuple. 

Bacons Epitaph, made by his Man. 

Death why soe crewill ! what, no other way 
To manifest thy splleene, but thus to slay 
Our hopes of safety ; liberty, our all 
Which, through thy tyrany, with him must fall 
To its late Caoss ? Had thy riged force 
Bin delt by retale, and not thus in gross 
Grief e had bin silent : Now wee must complaine 
Since thou, in him, hast more then thousand slane 
Whose lives and safetys did so much depend 
On him there lif, with him there lives must end. 

If t be a sin to thinke Death brib'd can bee 
Wee must be guilty; say twas bribery 
Guided the fatall shaft. Verginias foes, 
To whom for secrit crimes just vengance owes 
Disarved plagues, dreding their just disart 
Corrupted Death by Parasscellcian^ art 
Him to destroy; whose well tride curage such, 
There heartless harts, nor arms, nor strength could touch. 

Who now must heale those wounds, or stop that blood 

^ Medical or alchemical; from Paracelsus, the celebrated physician (1493- 
1541). 



76 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

The Heathen made, and drew into a flood ? 

Who i'st must pleade our Cause ? nor Trump nor Drum 

Nor Deputations; these alass are dumb, 

And Cannot speake. Our Arms (though nere so strong) 

Will want the aide of his Commanding tongue, 

Which Conquer'd more than Ceaser : He orethrew 

Onely the outward frame; this Could subdue 

The ruged workes of nature. Soules repleate 

With dull Child couldS he'd annemate with heate 

Drawne forth of reasons Lymbick. In a word 

Marss and Minerva both in him Concurd 

For arts, for arms, whose pen and sword alike. 

As Catos did, may admireation strike 

In to his foes; while they confess withall 

It was there guilt stil'd him a Criminall. 

Onely this differance doth from truth proceed : 

They in the guilt, he in the name must bleed, 

While none shall dare his Obseques to sing 

In disarv'd measures, untill time shall bring 

Truth Crown'd with freedom, and from danger free, 

To sound his praises to posterity. 

Here let him rest; while wee this truth report, 
Hee's gon from hence unto a higher Court 
To pleade his Cause: where he by this doth know 
Whether to Ceaser hee was friend, or foe. 



Upon the Death of G: B. 

Whether to Ceaser he was Friend or Foe ? 
Pox take such Ignorance, do you not know ? 
Can he be Friend to Ceaser, that shall bring 
The Arms of Hell, to fight againt the King? 
(Treason, Rebellion) then what reason have 
Wee for to waite upon him to his Grave, 
There to express our passions ? Wilt not bee 
Worss then his Crimes, to sing his Ellegie 
In well tun'd numbers; where each Ella beares 
(To his Flagitious name) a flood of teares ? 
A name that hath more soules with sorow fed. 
Then reched^ Niobe single teares ere shed ; 
A name that fil'd all hearts, all eares, with paine, 
Untill blest fate proclamed, Death had him slane. 

* Chilled cold. In the next line, Lymbick for alembic. * Wretched. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 77 

Then how can it be counted for a sin 

Though Death (nay though my selfe) had bribed bin. 

To guide the fatall shaft ? we honour all 

That lends a hand unto a T[r]ators fall. 

What though the well paide Rochit soundly ply 

And box the Pulpitt in to flatterey; 

Urging his Rethorick, and straind elloquence, 

T' adorne incoffin'd filth and excrements; 

Though the Defunct (like ours) nere tride 

A well intended deed untill he dide ? 

'Twill be nor sin, nor shame, for us, to say 

A two fould Passion checker-workes this day 

Of Joy and Sorow; yet the last doth move 

On feete impotent, wanting strength to prove 

(Nor can the art of Logick yeild releife) 

How Joy should be surmounted, by our greife. 

Yet that wee Grieve it cannot be denide. 

But 'tis because he was, not cause he dide. 

So wep the poore destresed Ilyum Dames^ 

Hereing those nam'd, there Citty put in flames, 

And Country ruing'd ; If wee thus lament 

It is against our present Joyes consent. 

For if the rule, in Phisick, trew doth prove. 

Remove the cause, th' effects will after move, 

We have outliv'd our sorows, since we see 

The Causes shifting, of our miserey. 

Nor is't a single cause, that's slipt away. 
That made us warble out a well-a-day. 
The Braines to plot, the hands to execute 
Projected ills, Death Joyntly did nonsute 
At his black Bar. And what no Baile could save 
He hath commited Prissoner to the Grave;- 
From whence there's no repreive. Death keep him close 
We have too many Divells still goe loose. 

Ingrams Proceedings. 

The Lion had no sooner made his exitt, but the Ape (by 
indubitable right) steps upon the stage. Bacon was no sooner 
removed by the hand of good providence, but another steps 
in, by the wheele of fickle fortune. The Countrey had, for 
som time, bin guided by a company of knaves, now it was to 

^ Dames of Ilium (Troy). 



78 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

try how it would behave it selfe under a foole. Bacon had 
not long bin dead, (though it was a long time before som 
would beleive that he was dead) but one Ingram^ (or Isgrum, 
which you will) takes up Bacons Commission (or ells by the 
patteme of that cuts him out a new one) and as though he 
had bin his natureall heire, or that Bacons Commission had 
bin granted not onely to him selfe, but to his Executors, Ad- 
ministraters and Assignes, he (in the Millitary Court) takes out 
a Probit of Bacons will, and proclames him selfe his Successer. 

This Ingram, when that he came first into the Countrey, 
had gott upon his Back the title of an Esquire, but how he 
came by it may pussell all the Herolds in England to finde out, 
u[n]till he informs them of his right name : how ever, by the 
helpe of this (and his fine capering, for it is saide that he could 
dance well upon a Rope) he caper'd him selfe in to a fine 
(though short Uv'd) estate: by marying, here, with a rich 
Widow, vallued at som hundreds of pounds. 

The first thing that this fine fellow did, after that he was 
mounted upon the back of his Commission, was to Spur, or 
Switch, those who were to pay obedience unto his Authorety, 
by geting him selfe proclaimed Generall of all the forces, now 
raised, or here after to be raised, in Verginia : Which while it 
was performing at the head of the Army, the Milksop stoode 
with his hatt in his hand, lookeing as demurely as the grate 
Turks Muftie, at the readeing som holy sentance, extracted 
forth of the AJchron.^ The Bell-man haveing don, he put on 
his hat, and his Janessarys threw up there Caps, crying out as 
lowde as they could Bellow, "God save our new Generall," 
hopeing, no dout, but he, in imitation of the grat Sultaine, 
at his election, would have inlarged there pay, or ells have given 
them leave to have made Jewes of the best Christians in the 
Countrey : but he being more than halfe a jew him self, at pres- 
ent forbad all plundrings, but such as he him selfe should be 
parsonally at. 

^ Of Laurence Ingram, who became leader of the movement after Bacon's 
death, almost nothing is known, beyond what is stated in the narrative. He 
had recently come to Virginia, apparently with Captain Grantham, on one of 
the latter's various voyages. Isgrum, or Isengrim, is the wolf, in the old beast- 
epic of Reynard the Fox. 

2 Alkoran. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 79 

It was not long before the Governour (still at Accomack) 
had intimation of Bacons death. He had a long time bin shut 
up in the Arke (as we may say) and now thought good to send 
out a winged Messinger to see, if happely the Delluge was any 
whit abated; and whether any dry-ground emerg'd its head, 
on which, with safety, he might sett his foot, without danger 
of being wetshod in blood, which accordingly he effected, 
under the command of one Maj. Beverly,^ a parson calculated 
to the Lattitude of the Servis, which required descretion. 
Courage, and Celerity, as qualetys wholly subservant to milli- 
tary affares: And all though he returnd not with an Olive 
branch in his Mouth, the Hyrogliph of peace, yet he went back 
with the Laurell upon his browes, the emblim of Conquest 
and tryumph, haveing snapt up one Coll : Hansford^ and his 



1 Major Robert Beverley, sr., one of the ruling faction with Berkeley, the 
Ludwells, Hill, and Hartwell, came to Virginia in 1663 and settled in Middlesex 
County. He was deemed by Bacon one of the chief enemies of the popular cause 
and was named in the Declaration of the People. He accompanied Berkeley to 
the Eastern Shore, but was sent back with troops to suppress the insurrection. 
In this work, particularly after Bacon's death in October, he was successful, and 
accomplished his end with so much energy as to call forth charges of oppression. 
The commissioners were hostile to Beverley and he was afterward removed from 
the council, but reinstated on the arrival of Governor Culpeper. The commis- 
sioners reported him as saying in the presence of Wiseman, their secretary, that 
he had not plundered enough, and that the rebellion was ended too soon for his 
purpose. They also charged him with "fomenting the ill-humours" between 
Governor Berkeley and Colonel Jeffreys, and with refusing to honor their demand, 
made upon him, April 19, 1677, as clerk of the House, to deliver the journal of 
the session beginning February 20. In the latter case, the commissioners were 
compelled to seize the journals, thus committing "a great violation of their 
privileges," as the House claimed. Beverley was a vigorous but harsh man, 
hostile to the commissioners, though in his way loyal to the colony. His son, 
Robert Beverley, jr., was the author of a History of Virginia. 

2 Captain Thomas Hansford was one of the most active of Bacon's followers, 
and is characterized by Mr. Bruce as a man of "high and noble spirit," "the 
noblest of all the victims of Berkeley's insane wrath." One of his fingers was cut 
off by Captain William Digges, son of Governor Edward Digges, who in conse- 
quence had to flee across the Potomac to St. Mary's, Maryland, where he became 
one of Lord Baltimore's chief supporters, and took a prominent part in opposing 
the uprising of 1689. Hansford was captured about the middle of November, 1676, 
and, with four others, executed at Accomac, by martial law, as a rebel. The 
commissioners declared that this execution was illegal, as Hansford had had 
"no tryal or conviction by lawful jury." 



80 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

party, who kep garde at the Howse where Coll: Reade^ did 
once live. It is saide that Hansford at (or a litle before) the 
onslaut, had forsaken the Capitole of Marss, to pay his obla- 
tions in the Temple of Venus; which made him the easiere 
preay to his enimies; but this I have onely upon report, and 
must not aver it upon my historicall reputation: But if it 
was soe, it was the last Sacryfize he ever after offred at the 
Shrine of that Luxurious Diety, for presently after that he 
came to Accomack, he had the ill luck to be the first Verginian 
borne that dyed upon a paire of Gallows. When that he came 
to the place of Execution (which was about a Mile removed 
from his prisson) he seemed very well resalved to undergo the 
utmost mallize of his not over kinde Destinie, onely Com- 
plaineing of the maner of his death : Being observed neather 
at the time of his tryall (which was by a Court Martiall) nor 
afterwards, to suplicate any other faviour, then that he might 
be shot hke a Soulder, and not to be hang'd like a Dog. But 
it was tould him, that what he so passionately petitioned for 
could not be granted, in that he was not condem'd as he was 
merely a Soulder, but as a Rebell, taken in Arms against the 
King, whose Laws had ordaind him that death. Dureing the 
short time he had to live, after his sentance, he approved to 
his best advantage for the well fare of his soule, by repentance 
and contrition for all his Sinns, in generall, excepting his Re- 
beleUion, which he would not acknowledg; desireing the Peo- 
ple, at the place of execution, to take notis that he dyed a 
Loyall Subject, and a lover of his Countrey; and that he had 
never taken up arms, but for the destruction of the Indians, 
who had murthered so many Christians. 

The buisness being so well accompish'd, by those who had 
taken Hansford, did so raise there Spirits, that they had no 
sooner deliver' d there Fraight at Accomack, but they hoyse 
up there sailes, and back againe to Yorke River, where with 
a Marvellous celerity they surprise one Major Cheise-Man^ 
and som others, amongst whom one Capt. Wilford, who (it 
is saide) in the bickering lost one of his eyes, which he seem'd 
litle concern'd at, as knowing, that when he came to Accomack, 

^ Probably the house of Colonel George Reade, on the site of Yorktown. 
* Of Major Thomas Cheeseman little more is known than is stated in the 
text. For Farlow, whose niece was the "loving wife" mentioned below, see p. 138. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 81 

that though he had bin stark bUnde, yet the Governour would 
take care for to afford him a guide, that should show him the 
way to the Gallows. Since he had promised him a hanging, 
long before, as being one of those that went out with Bacon, 
in his first expedition against the Indians, without a Commis- 
sion. 

This Capt. Wilford, though he was but a litle man, yet he 
had a grate heart, and was knowne to be no Coward. He had 
for som yeares bin an Interpreter betwene the English and the 
Indians, in whose affaires he was well aquainted, which ren- 
dred him the more acceptable to Bacon, who made use of him 
all along in his Indian War. By birth he was the Second Son 
of a Kt., who had lost life and estate in the late Kings quarill, 
against the surnamed long Parliament, which forst him to 
Verginia (the onely Citty of Refuge left in his Majesties do- 
minianS; in those times, for destresed Cavaliers) to seeke his 
fortunes, which through his industerey began to be consider- 
able, if the kindness of his fate had bin more perminent, and 
not destin'd his life to so reched a death. Major Cheisman, 
before he came to his triall, dyed in prisson, of feare, Greife, 
or bad useage, for all these are reported : and so by one death 
prevented another more dredfull to flesh and blood. 

There is one remarkeable passage reported of this Major 
Cheismans Lady, which because it sounds to the honour of 
her Sex, and consequent[l]y of all loveing Wives, I will not 
deny it a roome in this Narrative. 

When that the Major was brought in to the Governors 
presence, and by him demanded, what made him to ingage 
in Bacons designes? Before that the Major could frame an 
Answer, to the Governours demand, his Wife steps in and 
tould his honour that it was her provocations that made her 
Husband joyne in the Cause that Bacon contended for; ading, 
that if he had not bin influenc'd by her instigations, he had 
never don that which he had don. Therefore (upon her bended 
knees) she desired of his honour, that since what her Husband 
had don was by her meanes, and so, by Consequence, she most 
guilty, that shee might be hang'd, and he pardon'd. Though 
the Govemouer did know, that what she had saide, was neare 
to the truth, yet he saide litle to her request, onely telling of 
her that she was a W . But his honour was angrey, and 



82 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

therefore this expression must be interprited the efects of his 
passion, not his meaneing : For it is to be understood in reason, 
that there is not any Woman, who hath soe small affection 
for her Husband, as to dishonour him by her dishonisty, and 
yet retaine such a degree of love, that rather then he should 
be hang'd, shee will be content to submit her owne hfe to the 
Sentance, to keep her husband from the Gallows. 

Capt. Carver and Capt. Farlow was now (or about this 
time) Executed, as is before hinted. Farlow was related to 
Cheisman, as he had maried Farlows Neice. When that he 
went first into the servis (which was presently after that Bacon 
had receved his Commission) he was Chosen Commander of 
those recrutes sent out of Yorke County, to Make up Bacons 
Numbers, according to the Gage of his Commission, limited 
for the Indian Servis; and by Sir William (or som one of the 
Councell) recommended to Bacon, as a fitt parson to be Com- 
mander of the saide party. These terms, by which he became 
ingaged, under Bacons Commands, he urged in his pley,^ at 
his triall : Ading, that if he had, in what he had don, denyed 
the Generalls orders, it was in his power to hang him, by the 
judgment of a Court Martiall; and that he had acted nothing 
but in obedience to the Generalls Authority. But it was 
replide, against him, that he was put under Bacons command 
for the servis of the Countrey, against the Indians, which im- 
ploy he ought to have kep to, and not to have acted by yond 
his bounds, as he had don : And Since he went into the Army 
imder the Governours orders, he was required to Search the 
Same, and see if he could finde one that Commissionated him 
to take up Arms in oppossition to the Governours Authority 
and parson : Neather had Bacon any other power by his Com- 
mission (had the same bin never so legally obtained) but onely 
to make war upon the Indians. Farlow rejojmed, that Bacon 
was, by his Commission, to see that the Kings peace was kep, 
and to Suppress those that should indeviour to Perturbe the 
same. It was reply'd, this might be granted him, and he might 
make his advantage of it, but was required to consider, whether 
the Kings peace was to be kep in resisting the Kings emediate 
Governour, soe as to levy a War against him; and so com- 
manded him to be silent, while his sentance was pronounced. 

1 Plea. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 83 

This man was much pittied by those who were aquainted with 
him, as one of a peaceable dispossition, and a good scholer, 
which one might thinke should have inabled him to have 
taken a better estimate of his imployment, as he was ac- 
quainted with the Mathamaticks : But it seems the Asstrolabe, 
or Quadrant, are not the fitest instruments to take the altitude 
of a Subjects duty; the same being better demonstrated by 
practicall, not Speculative observations. 

The nimble and timely servis performed by Major Beverly 
(before mentioned) haveing opened the way, in som measure, 
the Govemour once more sallyeth out for the Westerne Shore, 
there to make triall of his better fortune ; which now began to 
cast a more favourable Aspect upon him and his affaires, by 
removeing the maine obstickles out of the way, by a Death, 
eather Natureall, or violent, (the one the ordnary, the other the 
exstreordnary workings of providence) which had with such 
pertinances, and violent perstringes, aposed his most Auspi- 
cious proceedings. The last time he came, he made choyce of 
James River; now he was resalved to set up his Rest in Yorke, 
as havein the nearest Vicinety to Gloster County (the River^ 
onely enterposeing betwene it and Yorke) in which, though 
the Enimy was the strongest (as desireing to make it the Seate 
of the Warr, in regard of severall locall covenencies) yet in it 
he knew that his friends was not the weakest, whether wee 
respect number, or furniture. It is trew they had taken the 
ingagement (as the rest had) to Bacon; but hee being dead, 
and the ingagement being onely personall, was lade in the 
Grave with him; for it was not made to him selfe, his heires. 
Executors, administrater, and Assignes; if other ways, it 
might have bin indued with a kinde of immortallety; unless 
the Sword, or juster (or grater) power might hapen to wound 
it to death. But how ever, Bacon being Dead, and with him 
his Commission, all those, who had taken the ingagement, 
were now at liberty to go and chuse them selves another 
Master. 

But though his honour knew that though they were dis- 
charged from the bindeing power of the oath, yet they were 
not free from the Commanding power of those Men that was 
still in Arms, in persuance of those ends for which the ingage- 

1 York River. 



84 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

ment was pretended to be taken : And that before this could 
be effected, those Men must first be beaten from there Arms, 
before the other could get there heeles at liberty, to do him 
any servis. Therefore he began to cast about how he might 
remove those Blocks which stoode in the Gloster Mens way: 
which being once don, it must take away all Pretences, and 
leave them with out all excuse, if they should offer to sitt still, 
when he, and his good providence together, had not onely 
knock'd off there shackles, but eather imprisson'd there Jay- 
lers, or tide them up to the Gallows. 

He had with him now in Yorke River 4 Shipps besides 2 
or 3 Sloopes. Three of the Ships he brought with him from 
Accomack : the other (a Marchantman, as the rest were) was 
som time before arived out of England, and in these about 
150 Men, at his emediate comimand; and no more he had 
when he came into Yorke River : Where being setled in Con- 
sultation with his friends, for the Manageing of his affaires, 
to the best advantage; he was informed that there was a 
party of the Baconians (for so they were still denominated, 
on that side, for destinction sake) that had setled them selves 
in there winter quarters, at the howse of one Mr. Howards, 
in Gloster county. 

For to keepe these Vermin from breeding, in there warme 
Kenill, he thought good, in time, for to get them ferited out. 
For the accomplishment of which peice of servis, he very 
secritly despacheth away a select number under the Conduct 
of Major Beverly, who very nimbly performed the same, have- 
ing the good fortune (as it is saide) to catch them all a sleepe. 
And least the Good man of the Howse should forgett this 
good servis, that Beverly had don him, in removeing his (to 
him) chargable gues[t]s, with these sleepers, he convayes a 
good quantety of there Landlords goods aborde : the Baconians 
(where of one a Leift. CoUonell) to remane prissoners, and the 
goods to be devided amongst those whose servis had made 
them such, according to the Law of Arms; which Howard will 
have to be the Law of Harms, by placeing the first letter of 
his name before the vowill A. 

But in ernist (and to leave jesting) Howard did really 
thinke it hard measure, to see that go out of his store, by the 
Sword, which he intended to deliver out by the Ell, or yard. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 85 

Neather could his Wife halfe like the Markitt, when she saw 
the Chapmen carey her Daughters Husband away Prissoner, 
and her owne fine Cloathes goeing into Captivity, to be sould 
by Match and pin,^ and after worne by those who (before 
these times) was not worth a point ;2 Yet it is thought, that 
the ould Gent: Woman, was not so much concern'd that her 
Son in Law was made a prissoner, as her Daughter was vext, 
to see they had not left one Man upon the Plantation, to com- 
fort neather herself nor Mother. 

This Block (and no less was the Commander of the fore 
mention'd sleepers) being removed out of the way, the Gloster 
Men began to stir abrode : Not provoked thereto out of any 
hopes of geting, but through a feare of loseing. They did 
plainely perceve that if they them selves did not goe to worke, 
sombody ells would, while they (for there neglegence) might 
be compeld to pay them there wages; and what that might 
com to they could not tell, since it was probable, in such Ser- 
vises, the Laberours would be there owne Carvers; and it 
is commonly knowne, that Soulders makes no Conscience to 
take more then there due. 

The worke that was now to be don, in these parts (and 
further I cannot go for want of a guide) was cut out into sev- 
erall parcells/ according as the Baconians had devided the 

^ I. e., by a form of auction in which a pin was stuck through a piece of 
slow-match cord, which was then Hghted, and bidding could continue till the 
fire reached the pin, and the pin dropped. 

* A point was a small appliance for fastening clothing; equivalent to, not 
worth a pin. 

3 The insurgents were divided into five chief groups. One under Ingram 
was at West Point, at the junction of the Pamunkey and Mattapony Rivers. 
The second was at Green Spring, Berkeley's old residence, under Captain Drew. 
The third was at the house of Nathaniel Bacon, sr., on King's Creek, York County, 
under Major Whaly. The fourth, with Drummond and Lawrence, remained at 
the brick house in New Kent County, opposite West Point, until Christmas time, 
when all who were there moved up the river to the house of Colonel Henry Gooch, 
where Whaly joined them. A fifth centre of resistance was in Nansemond County, 
behind Warrascoyack Bay, under Captain Catlin and Colonel Groves (Calendar 
of State Papers, Colonial, 1674-1676, p. 453). These bodies of men lived chiefly 
from hand to mouth, foraging and plundering where they could. Such a rough 
commissariat system helps to explain the desolation of the country on the arri- 
val of the commissioners. Nathaniel Bacon, sr., claimed that he had lost £1000 
sterling in stock and goods by Whaly's occupation of his house. 



86 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

same. And first At Wests Point (an Isthmos which gives the 
Denomination to the two Rivers, Pomunkey and Mattapony 
(Indian Names) that branch forth of York River, Som 30 
Miles above Tindells point) there was planted a garde of about 
200 Soulders. This place Bacon had designed to make his 
prime Randevouze, or pla(^ of Retreat, in respect of severall 
locall Convenencis this place admited off, and which hee 
fomid fitt for his pmpose, for sundry reasons. Here it was, I 
thinke, that Ingram did cheifely reside, and from whence he 
drew his recruts, of Men and Munition. The next Parcell, 
considerable, was at Green-spring (the Governours howse) into 
which was put about 100 Men, and Boys, under the Com- 
mand of on Capt. Drew; who was ressalutely bent (as he sade) 
to keep the place in spite of all oppossition, and that he might 
the better keepe his promise he caused all the Avenues and 
approaches to the same to be Baracado'd up, and 3 grate Guns 
planted to beate of the Assalents. A third parcell (of about 
30 or 40) was put in to the Howse of CoUonell Nath : Bacons 
(a Gent: Man related to him deceased, but not of his prin- 
ciples) under the Conmiand of one Major Whaly, a stout 
ignorant Fellow (as most of the rest) as may be scene here 
after; these were the most considerablest parteys that the 
Gloster Men were to deale with, and which they had promised 
to reduce to obediance, or other ways to beate them out of 
there lives, as som of them (perhaps not well aquainted with 
Millitary affairs, or too well conseated of there owne vallour) 
bosted to doe. 

The Parson that, by Commission, was to perform this worke, 
was one Major Lawrence Smith (and for this servis so intitled, 
as it is saide) a Gent: Man that in his time had hued out 
many a knotty peice of worke, and soe the better knew how 
to handle such ruged fellowes as the Baconians were famed 
to be. 

The place for him to Congregate his men at (I say Con- 
gregate, as a word not improper, since his second in dignity 
was a Minester, who had lade downe the Miter and taken up 
the Helmett) was at one Major Pates (in whose Howse Bacon 
had surrendred up both Life and Commission; the one to 
him that gave it, the other to him that tooke it) where there 
apeared men ennough to have beaten all the Rebells in the 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 87 

Countrey, onely with there Axes and Hoes, had they bin led 
on by a good overseer. 

I have eather heard, or have read, That a Compleate Gen- 
erall ought to be owner of these 3 induments: Wisdom to 
foresee. Experience to chuse, and Curage to execute. He that 
wants the 2 last, can never have the first; since a wise Man 
will never undertake more then he is able to perform ; He that 
hath the 2 first, wanting the last, makes but a lame Com- 
mander; since Curage is an inseperable Adjunct to the bare 
name of a Soulder, much more to a Generall : He that wants 
the second, haveing the first and the last, is no less imperfict 
then the other; since without experience, wisdom and curage 
(like yong Docters) do but grope in the darke, or strike by 
gess. 

Much about the time that the Gloster Men Mustred at 
M. Pates, there was a riseing in Midlesex, upon the same 
acount: Who were no sooner gott upon ther feet, but the 
Baconians resalves to bring them on there knees. For the 
efecting of which Ingram speeds away one Walklett, his Leift. 
Generall, (a Man much like the Master) with a party of Horss, 
to do the worke. M. L. Smith was quickly inform'd upon 
what arend^ Walklett was sent, and so, with a Generous res- 
salution, resalves to be at his heeles, if not before hand with 
him, to helpe his friends in there destress. And because he 
would not all together trust to others, in affaires of this nature, 
he advanceth at the head of his owne Troops, (what Horss 
what Foote for number, is not in my intillegence) leaveing 
the rest for to fortify Major Pates howse, and so speeds after 
Walklet who, before Smith could reach the required distance, 
had performed his Worke, with litle labour, and (hereing of 
Smiths advance) was prepareing to give him a Reception an- 
swerable to his designements : Swareing to fight him though 
Smith should out number him Cent per cent; and was not this 
a dareing ressalution of a Boy that hardly ever saw Sword, 
but in a Scaberd? 

In the meane time that this buisnes was a doeing, Ingram, 
understanding upon what designe M. L. Smith was gon about, 
by the advice of his officers strikes in betwene him and his new 
made (and new mand) Garisson at M. Pates. He very nimbly 

1 Errand. 



88 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

invests the Howse, and then summons the Soulders (then under 
the command of the fore said Minester) to a speedy rendition^ 
or otherways to stand out to Mercy, at there utmost perill. 
After som toos and froes about the buisness (quite beyond his 
text) the Minester accepts of Such Articles, for a Surrender, 
as pleased Ingram and his Mermidons to grant. 

Ingram had no sooner don this jobb of jurnye worke (of 
which he was not a litle proud) but M. L. Smith (haveing re- 
tracted his March out of Midle-sex, as thinkeing it litle less 
then a disparagement to have any thing to doe with Walklett) 
was up on the back of Ingram, before he was aware, and at 
which he was not a litle daunted, feareing that he had beate 
Walklett to peices, in Midlesex. But he perceveing that the 
Gloster Men did not weare (in there faces) the Countinances 
of Conquerers, nor there Cloathes the marks of any late in- 
gagement (being free from the honourable Staines of Wounds 
and Gun shott) he began to hope the best, and the Gloster men 
to feare the worst; and what the properties of feare is, let 
Feltham^ tell you, who saith. That if curage be a good Oriter, 
feare is a bad Counceller, and a worss Ingineare. For insteade 
of erecting, it beates and batters downe all Bullworks of de- 
fence: perswadeing the feeble hart that there is no safety in 
armed Troops, Iron gates, nor stone walls. In oppossition of 
which Passion I wiU appose the Properties of it's Antithesis, 
and say That as som men are never valient but in the midst 
of discourse, so others never manifest there Courage but in 
the midst of danger : Never more alive then when in the jawes 
of Death, crowded up in the midst of fire, smoke. Swords and 
gunns; and then not so much laying about them through 
despareation, or to save there lives, as through a Generosety 
of Spirit, to trample upon the lives of there enimies. 

For the saveing of Pouder and Shott (or rather through 
the before mentioned Generossety of Curage) one Major Bris- 
tow^ (on Smiths side) made a Motion to try the equity and 
justness of the quarill, by single Combett: Bristow proffer- 
ing him selfe against any one (being a Gent.) on the other side; 
this was noble, and like a Soulder. This Motion (or rather 

^ Owen Feltham, author of Resolves, Divine, Moral, and Political (1620, and 
many other editions). 

2 For Major Bristow, see p. 24, note 3. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION , 89 



Challenge) was as redely accepted by Ingram, as proffer'd by 
Bristow; Ingram Swareing the newest Oath in fashion, that 
he would be the Man; and so advanceth on foot, with sword 
and Pistell, against Bristow; but was fetch'd back by his owne 
men, as douteing the justness of there cause, or in Considera- 
tion of the desparety that was betwene the two Antagonist. 
For though it might be granted, that in a private Condition 
Bristow was the better man, yet now it was not to be alowed, 
as Ingram was intitled. 

This buisness not fadging, betwene the two Champions, 
the Gloster men began to entertaine strange and new Ressalu- 
tions, quite Retrogade to there pretentions, and what was by 
all good men expected from the promiseing asspects of this 
there Leagueing against a usurping power. It is saide that a 
good Cause and a good Deputation is a lawfull Authorety for 
any Man to fight by; yet neather of these, joyntly nor Sever- 
ally, hath a Coercive power, to make a Man a good Soulder : 
If he wants Courage, though he is inlisted under both, yet is 
he not starling quoyne '} he is at best but Coper, stompt with 
the Kings impress, and will pass for no more then his just 
vallew. As to a good Cause, doutless they had Satisfied them- 
selves as to that, ells what were they at this time a Contend- 
ing for, and for whom? And as for a good Deputation, if 
they wanted that, where fore did they so miserably befoole 
them selves, as to run in to the mouths of there enimies, and 
there to stand still like a Company of Sheep, with the knife 
at there throtes, and never so much as offer to Bleat, for the 
saving of there lives, liberties. Estates, and what to truly val- 
lient men is of grater vallew then these, there Creditts? all 
which now lay at the Mercy of there enimies, by a tame sur- 
render of there Arms and Parsons in to the hands of Ingram 
(with out Strikeing one Stroke) who haveing made all the 
cheife Men prissoners (excepting those who first nm away) 
he dismist the rest to there owne abodes, there to Sum up the 
number of those that were eather slane or wounded in this 
Sends. 

Much about this time of the Gloster buisness, his honour 
sends abrode a party of Men, from off aboarde, under the 
Command of one Hubert Farrill, to feritt out a Company of 

( * Sterling coin. > 



90 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

the Rebells, who kep Gard at Coll. Bacons, under the power 
of Major Whaly, before mentioned. Coll. Bacon himselfe, 
and one Coll : Ludwell, came along with Farrill, to see to the 
Management of the enterprise; about which they tooke all 
posible care, that it might prove fortunate. For they had no 
sooner resolved upon the onsett, but they consult on the Maner, 
which was to be effected by a Generossety paralell with the 
designe ; which required Curage, and expedition : and so con- 
cludes not to answer the Centreys by fireing, but to take, 
kill, or drive them up to there Avenues, and then to enter 
pell mell with them in to the howse: this Method was good 
had it bin as well executed as Contrived. But the Centrey 
had no sooner made the ChaUinge, with bis mouth, demanding 
who Coms there? but the other answer with there Musquits 
(which seldom Speakes the language of friends) and that in 
soe loud a Maner, that it alarum'd those in the howse to a 
defence, and then into a posture to salley out. "Which the 
other perceveing (contrary to there first orders) wheeles of 
from the danger, to find a place for there securytie, which they 
in part found behinde som out buildings, and from whence 
they fired one upon the other, giveing the Bullits leave to grope 
there owne way in the dark (for as yet it was not day) till the 
Generall was shot through his loynes; and in his fate all the 
soulders (or the grater part) through there hearts. Now sunke 
in to there heels which they were now makeing use of instead 
of there hands, the better to save there jackits, of which they 
had bin Certainely Stript, had they Com imder there enimies 
fingers, who knowes better how to Steale then fight, not with- 
standing this uneven Cast of Fortunes Mallize, Being a Con- 
flict, in which the losers have cause to repent, and the winers 
Faith to give God thanks; unless with the same devotion 
Theives do when that they have stript honist Men out of there 
Mony. Here was none but there Generall kild, whose Com- 
mission was found droping-wett with his owne blood, in his 
pockitt ; and 3 or 4 taken prisoners ; what wounded not knowne, 
if any; in there backs, as there enimies say, who glory'd more 
in there Conquest then ever Scanderbeg^ did for the gratest 
victory he ever obtained against the Turkes. If Sir Williams 
Cause were no better then his fortunes, hither to, how many 

^ Albanian leader (1403-1467), rebel against the Turks. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 91 

prossellites might his disasters bring over to the tother side? 
but God forbid that the justice of all quarills should be esti- 
mated by there events. 

Yet here in this action (as well as som other before) who 
can chuse but deplore the strange fate that the Govemour was 
subjected to, in the evill choyce of his cheife-commanders, for 
the leadeing on his Millitary transactions ; that when his cause 
should com to a day of heareing, they should want Curage to 
put in there pleay of defence, against there Adverssarys argu- 
ments; and pittyfully to stand still and see themselves non- 
suted, in every sneakeing adventure or Action that cal'd upon 
there Generossety (if they had had any) to vindicate there 
indubitable pretences against a usurped power. 

It is trew Whalys Condition was desperate, and hee was 
resalved that his Curage should be conformable and as des- 
perate as his Condition. He did not want intilligence how 
Hansford, and Som others, was sarved at Accomack; which 
made him thinke it a grate deale better to dye like a Man, 
then to be hang'd like a Dogg, if that his Fate would but give 
him the liberty of picking as well as he had taken the liberty 
of stealeing, of which unsoulder-like quallety he was fowly 
guilty. But let Whaleys condition be never so desperate, 
and that he was resalvd to Manage an oppossition against his 
Assalent according to his condition, yet those in the Howse 
with him stoode upon other terms, being two thirds (and the 
whoU exseeded not 40) prest into the Servis, much against 
there will; and had a grater antipethy against Whaly then they 
had any cause for to feare his fate, if he, and they too, had bin 
taken. As for that Objection, that Farrill was not, at this 
time, fully cured of those Wounds he receved in the Salley 
at Towne, which in this action proved detrimentall both to 
his strength and curage: Why then (if it was so) did he ac- 
cept of this imploy (he haveing the liberty of refuseing) since 
none could be better aquainted with his owne Condition 
(eather for Strength or Courage) better then him selfe ? Cer- 
tainely in this particuler, Farills foolish ostentation was not 
excuseable, nor Sir William with out blame, to Complye with 
his ambition, as he had no other parts to prove himselfe a 
Soulder, then a haire brain'd ressalution to put him selfe for- 
ward in those affaires he had no more aquaintance with then 



92 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

what he had heard people talke off; For the falure of this 
enterprise (which must wholly be refer'd to the breach he made 
upon their sedulous determinations) which was (as is intimated 
before, to croude in to the Howse with the Centrey) was not 
onely injurious to there owne party, by leting slip so faire an 
occasion to weaken the power of the enimy, by removeing 
Whaly out of the way, who was esteemed the Most Considera- 
blest parson on that side; but it was, and did prove of bad 
cosequence to the adjacent parts, where he kep gard: For 
whereas before he did onely take ame where he might do mis- 
cheife, he now did mischeife without takeing ame : before this 
unhapie conflict, he did levie at this or that particuler onely, 
but now he shott at Rovers, let the same lite where it would 
he matter'd nott. 

Capt. Grantham^ had now bin som time in Yorke River, 
A man unto whom Verginia is very much beholden for his 
neate contrivance in bringing Ingram (and som others) over 
to harken to reason. With Ingram he had som small aquain- 
tance, for it was in his Ship that he came to Verginia; and so 
resalved to try if he might not doe that by words, which others 
could not accompUsh with Swords. Now all though he knew 
that Ingram was the Point where all the lines of his contri- 
vance were for to Center, yet he could not tell, very well, how to 
obtaine this point. For all though he did know that Ingram, 
in his private Condition, was accostable enough ; yet since the 
Tit Mouse (by one of Fortunes figaryes)^ was becom an EUi- 
phant, he did not know but that his pride might be as immence 
as his power: since the Peacock (though bred upon a Dung- 
hill) is no less proud of his fine fethers then the princely Eagle 
is of his noble curage. What Arguments Grantham made use 
of, to ring the Sword out of Ingrams hand, to me is not visable, 
more then what he tould me of ; which I thinke was not Mercu- 
riall' enough, against an ordnary Sophester. But to speake 

1 Captain Thomas Grantham, afterward knighted, was a merchant cap- 
tain who chanced to be in Virginia at this time, and played a loyal but mediating 
part. Some account of Bacon's rebellion, and of his own life, is given, from docu- 
ments furnished by him, in the rare little book, An Historical Account of some 
Memorable Actions, [Particularly in Virginia, 2d ed.] by Sir Thomas Grantham, Kt. 
(London, 1714, 1716; reprinted, Richmond, 1882). 

* Vagaries. 

' Alluding to Mercury as the god of eloquence. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 93 

the truth, it may be imagin'd that Grantham (at this time) 
could not bring more reasons to Convince Ingram, then In- 
gram had in his owne head to Convince him selfe; and so did 
onely awate som favourable overtures (and such as Grantham 
might, it is posible, now make) to bring him over to the tother 
side. Neather could he apprehend more reason in Granthams 
Arguments, then in his owne affaires, which nowprovok'd 
him to dismount from the back of that Horss which he wanted 
skill and strength to Manidge; especially there being som, of 
his owne party, wateing an opertunity to toss him out of the 
Sadie of his new moimted honours; and of whose designes he 
wanted not som intilligence, in the Countinances of his Mer- 
midons; who began for to looke a skew upon this, there Milk- 
sopp Generall, who they judged fitter to dance upon a Rope, 
or in som of his wenches lapps, then to caper, eather to Bel- 
lonies^ Bagpipe, or Marsses whisle. 

But though Ingram was won upon to turn honist in this 
thing (thanks to his necessitye, which made it an act of Com- 
pultion, not a free will offering) yet was the worke but halfe 
don, untill the Soulders were wrought upon to follow his ex- 
ample. And though he him selfe, or any body ells, might 
command them to take up there Arms, when any mischeife 
was to be don: yet it was a question whether he, or any in 
the Countrye, could command them to lay downe there Arms, 
for to efect or do any good. In such a case as this, where 
Authority wants power, descretion must be made use of, as 
a vertue Surmounting a brutish force. Grantham, though he 
had bin but a while in the Countrey, and had scene but litle, 
as to mater of Action, yet he had heard a grate deale; and So 
Much that the name of Authority had but litle power to ring 
the Sword out of these Mad fellows hands, as he did perceve. 
And that there was more hopes to efect that by smoothe words, 
which was never likely to be accomplished by rough deeds; 
there fore he resalved to accoste them, as the Divell courted 
Eve, though to a better purpose, with never to be performed 
promises : counting it no sin to Ludificate those for there good, 
that had bin deceved by others to there hurt. He knew that 
Men were to be treated as such, and Children according to 
there childish dispossitions : And all though it was not with 

* Bellona's. 



94 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

both these he was now to deale, yet he was to observe the sev- 
erall tempers of those he was to worke upon. 

What number of Soulders was, at this time, in Garrisson 
at West Point, I am not Certane : It is saide about 250, sum'd 
up in freemen, searvants and slaves; these three ingredience 
being the Compossition of Bacons Army, ever since that the 
Governour left Towne. These was informed (to prepare the 
way) two or three days before that Grantham came to them, 
that there was a treaty on foote betwene there Generall and 
the Governour; and that Grantham did manely promote the 
same, as he was a parson that favoured the cause, that they 
were contending for. 

When that Grantham arived amongst these fine fellowes, 
he was receved with more then an ordnary respect; which he 
haveing repade with a suteable deportment, he aquaints them 
with his Commission, which was to tell them, that there was 
a peace Concluded betwene the Governour and there Generall ; 
and since him self had (in som measures) used his indeviours, 
to bring the same to pass, hee beg'd of the Governour, that he 
might have the honour to com and aquaint them with the 
terms; which he saide was such, that they had all cause to 
re Joyce at, then any ways to thinke hardly of the same; there 
being a Compleate satisfaction to be given (by the Articles of 
agreement) according to every ones particuler intress; which 
he sum'd up under these heads. And first, those that were 
now in Arms (and free Men) under the Generall, were still to 
be retained in Arms, if they so pleased, against the Indians. 
Secondly, And for those who had a desire for to return hom, 
to there owne abodes, care was taken for to have them satis- 
fide, for the time they had bin out, according to the alowance 
made the last Assembley. And lastly, those that were sar- 
vants in Arms, and behaved them selves well in there imploy- 
ment, should emediately receve discharges from there Inden- 
tures, signed by the Governour, or Sequetary of State; and 
there Masters to receve from the publick a valluable Satisfac- 
tion, for every Sarvant so set free (Marke the words) propor- 
tionally to the time that they have to serve. 

Upon these terms, the Soulders forsake West-Point, and 
goe with Grantham to kiss the Governours hands (still at 
Tindells point) and to receve the benifitt of the Articles men- 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 95 

tioned by Grantham; where when they came (which was by 
water, them selves in one vessill, and there Arms in another; 
and so contrived by Grantham, as he tould me him selfe, upon 
good reason) the Sarvants and Slaves was sent horn to there 
Masters, there to stay till the Governour had leasure to signe 
there discharges, or to say better, till they were free, accord- 
ing to the Custom of the Countrey;^ the rest was made pris- 
soners, or entertain'd by the Governour, as hee found them 
inclin'd. 

Of all the obstickles, that hath hitherto lane in the Gover- 
nours way, there is not one (which hath f alne with in the Verge 
of my intilligence) that hath bin removed by the Sword; ex- 
cepting what was performed under the Conduct of Beverly: 
How this, undertaken by Grantham, was effected, you have 
heard; though badly (as the rest) by me Sum'd up. The next, 
that is taken notis of, is that at Greene Spring (before hinted) 
under the Command of one Capt. Drew, formerly a Miller (by 
profession) though now Dignifide with the title of a Capt. and 
made Governour of this Place by Bacon, as he was a person 
formerly behoulden unto Sir William, and soe, by way of 
requiteall, most likely to keepe him out of his owne Howse, 
This Whisker of Whorly-Giggs, perceveing (now) that there 
was More Water coming downe upon his Mill then the Dam 
would hould, thought best in time, to fortifye the same, least 
all should be borne downe before he had taken his toule.^ 
Which haveing effected (makeing it the strongest place in the 
Country what with grate and small Gunns) he stands upon 
his gard, and refuseth to Surrender, but upon his owne terms; 
Which being granted, he secures the place till such time as 
Sir William should, in parson, com and take possesion of the 
same : And was not this pritely, honestly, don, of a Miller. 

The gratest difficulty now to be performed, was to remove 
Drummond and Larance out of the way. These two Men was 

^ Indented servants who had not taken the precaution to secure a written 
contract defining the terms of their service were obliged to serve "according to 
the custom of the country." Laws for their protection defined this. Thus, in 
Virginia at this time, by act of 1643, servants over twenty years old at the time 
of indenture had to serve four years; if between twelve and twenty, five years; 
if under twelve, seven years. 

2 Toll. 



96 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

excepted out of the Govemours pardon, by his Proclamation 
of June last, and severall papers since, and for to dye with- 
out Marcy, when ever taken, as they were the cheife Incen- 
diarys, and promoters to and for Bacons Designes; and by 
whose Councells all transactions were, for the grater part, 
managed all along on that Side. Drummond was formerly 
Governour of Carolina,^ and all ways esteemed a Parson of 
such induments, where Wisdom and honisty are contending 
for supriority; which rendred him to be one of that sort of 
people, whose dementions are not to be taken by the line of 
an ordnary Capassety. Larance was late one of the Assem- 
bley, and Burgis for Towne, in which he was a liver. He was 
a Parson^ not meanely aquainted with such learning (besides 
his natureall parts) that inables a Man for the management 
of more then ordnary imployments. Which he subjected to an 
eclips, as well in the transactings of the present affaires, as in 
the darke imbraces of a Blackamoore, his slave : And that in 
so fond a Maner, as though Venus was cheifely to be wor- 
shiped in the Image of a Negro, or that Buty consisted all to- 
gether in the Antiphety of Complections : to the noe meane 
Scandle and affrunt of all the Vottrisses in or about towne. 

When that West point was surrendred, and Greene Spring 
secur'd for the Governour, these two Gent : was at the Brick- 
howse,^ in New Kent: a place Situate allmost oppossitt to 
West point, on the South side of York River, and not 2 Miles 
removed from the said point, with som Soulders under there 
Command, for to keepe the Governours Men from landing on 
that Side; he haveing a Ship, at that time, at Ancor nere the 
place. They had made som attempts to have hindred Grant- 
hams designes (of which they had gain'd som intilligence) 
but there indeviours not fadging, they sent downe to Coll. 
Bacons to fetch of the Gard there, under the Command of 
Whaley, to reinforce there owne strength. 

^ Governor of the Albemarle settlement (North Carolina), 1664-1667. 

* Person. 

' An old brick house, built about 1660, on the south side of York River, 
opposite West Point. The house is still standing and is known as "Bacon's 
Castle." It was fortified by Captain William Rookins and others during the 
rebellion. Rookins was condemned to death afterward by martial law, but died 
in prison. He was of Surry County. 



1676] BACON'S AND INGRAM'S REBELLION 97 

Whaly was quickly won to obay the commands of his Mas- 
ters, especially such in whose servis he might expect to receve 
good Wages : forthwith drawing ou[t] his Men, amongst whom 
was Som Boys, all laden with the goods and last remanes of 
Coll. Bacons Estate, an[d] with all posible Speed (after a March 
of 30 Miles,) joyne[d] with Larance; where they Mustred in 
all (besides Co[n]cubines and Whores, Whaley haveing added 
his to the r[est]) about 300 Men and Boys. With which num- 
ber, being [too] weake for to desend downe in to the heart of 
the Coun[trey,] (now cleared of the Baconians, or possest by 
the other [par]ty) they march up higher in to New Kent, as 
far [as] Coll : Gouges, thinking (like the snow ball) to incr[ease 
by] there rouleing. But finding that in stead of increas[ing] 
there number decreast, and that the Moone of there fortune 
was now past the full, they broke up how[se-]keeping, every 
one shifting for him selfe, as his ta[ste?] or feares directed; 
Whaly and Larance makein[g a] cleare escape; but which way, 
or to what place, not knowne. Coll. Gouge and the rest went 
to there own[e ?] Howses, from whence they were brought upon 
there [tri]all, aborde a Ship, at Tindells point; and from thence 
([all] that were condem[ned]) sent to the place of Execution. 
[A]mongst which (of those that Suffer'd) were one Mr. H[all] 
Clarke of New Kent Court, a parson of Neate Ingenuo[us] 
parts, but adicted to a more then ordnary prying in[to] the 
Secrits of State affaires, which som yeares las[t pa]st wrought 
him in to the Governours [dis]pleasure. A[nd] which (tis 
posible) at this time was [not] forgott, [but] was lade to his 
charge upon his tria[ll(] which w[as by] a Court Martiall) to 
me is not visa[ble]. He nev[er hav]ing appeared as a Soulder 
publickly, [yet] was co[ndemn'd] to be hang'd with 3 others 
by Coll: [Bacons ?]s howse, [viz.] Major Page, (once My Sar- 
vant, at his [fir]st coming [into] the Countrey), Capt. Yong, 
and one [Harris] rtiall to Bacons Army. 

This execution being over, the Govern[our] began to be 
wery of the Water: and findeing that he be[g]an to gether 
Strength, resalves to go a shore. There w[as] Considerable 
Cordialls administred to him, in litle more then a weekes [ti]me, 
which he found had don him a grate deale of [g]ood; the Sur- 
render of Wests point, Green spring, and [t]he death of the 
fore Mentioned Men. The place where [he] went on Shore, 



98 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1677 

was at Coll : Bacons, now clear'd [of] the Rebells by the hapey 
removeall of Whally, after [he] had (by the aideing helpe of 
his party) devouered [no] less then 2000 pounds (to my certaine 
knowledg) [of] Coll. Bacons estate, the grater part in Store 
goods. [Here] he meets with Mr. Drummond, taken^ the day 
be[fore] in New Kent, where he had absconded, ever since [th]e 
brakeing up howse keepeing at Coll : Gouges. The [Govern] our 

a more then ordnary gladness for to [see li]im, which 

(as he saide) did him more good then the [sigh]t of his owne 
Brother. If the Govemour was soe [glad] to see Dnmimon, 
Drommon was no less sad to see [his h]onour, the sight of 
whom (with out the help of an As[trol]egr) might inform him 
what death he should [die,] and that he had not many days to 
live. That night [he] was sent aborde a Ship in Irons, while 
the Govemour [re]moved the next day in his Coach to Mr Brays, 
a [jour]nye of some 5 Miles. The next day after, being Sater- 
[day,] Drummond was, by a party of Horss (who recev[ed him] 
at Coll : Bacons) convayed to his try all : In his way [thi]ther 
he complained very much that his Irons hurt [him], and that 

his fine Cloake, as he called it, a green- for the H[a]ng- 

man had taken his fur'd Coate from [him,] (a bad presage) did 
much hinder him in his way. [When ?] proffer'd [a h]orss, to 

ride, he refused, and sade he [would] com to e to his 

port before he was preparde [wi]th his Anc[hor] : ading that he 
did very much feare [Sir Wil]liam w[ould] not al[low h]im time 
to put of his dir[ty cl]othes b[efore] he went to lye downe upon 
his ev[en]ing b[e]d. [He s]aide, welcom be the grace of God, 
for [it would clea]nse him from all his filth and pollution. He 
ex[pressed] abundance of thankes for being permitted to res[t 
hi]m seKe upon the Roade, while he tooke a pipe of Tobacco. 
He discoursed very much with that parson who comm[anded] 
his gard concerning the late troubles, affirming that he was 
wholly innoscent of those ^ 

^ Drummond was taken January 14, 1677. 

2 By the 24th the rebeUion was entirely suppressed, and Berkeley was back 
at Green Spring before the 27th. On the 29th the English commissioners, Berry 
and Moryson, arrived on the Bristol in James River. 



A TRUE NARRATIVE OF THE LATE REBEL- 
LION IN VIRGINIA, BY THE ROYAL COM- 
MISSIONERS, 1677 



INTRODUCTION 

The news of the uprising in Virginia reached England in 
September, 1676, and immediately steps were taken to meet 
the emergency. At first, the plans of the British authorities 
went no further than the recall of Berkeley, and the appoint- 
ment of a successor with power to exercise martial law and 
grant pardons. But soon it became evident that a special 
commission must be sent over to settle the affairs of the 
colony; and as disturbing rumors of the extent of the rebellion 
continued to come in, the decision was reached to send over 
also a body of English troops. The members of the commis- 
sion, as finally made up, were Captain Sir John Berry, in charge 
of the fleet, Colonel Herbert Jeffreys, in command of the 
troops, with a commission to succeed Berkeley as governor, 
and Francis Moryson, a former acting governor of the colony 
and at this time its agent in England. 

Captain Sir John Berry (1635-1690) was a Devonshire 
man who went to sea early in the merchant service, and in 
1663 entered the navy. He served in the West Indies, 1665- 
1668; in the Mediterranean against the Barbary pirates, 
1668-1671; he was knighted in 1672, and rose to the rank 
of vice-admiral in 1683. Later he became one of the Navy 
Commissioners. 

Colonel Herbert Jeffreys was a relative of Alderman John 
Jeffreys, of Bread Street Ward, London. The alderman was 
a friend of Sir Joseph Williamson, secretary of state, and, 
though not a relative, had aided young George Jeffreys, later 
the chief justice and chancellor, when a struggling barrister 
in London. As the Duke of Monmouth was at this time 
captain-general of the forces, it is quite possible that Herbert 

101 



102 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

Jeffreys owed his advancement as colonel and commander of 
the land forces to these connections. He was accompanied 
to Virginia by his son, John Jeffreys, as ensign in one of the 
companies. His commission as governor was dated Novem- 
ber 11, 1676, and he succeeded Berkeley on the latter's de- 
parture in April, 1677. He died December 17, 1678. 

Francis Moryson served as major in the royal army dur- 
ing the Civil War, and came to Virginia in 1649. He was 
speaker of the House of Burgesses, 1655-1656, and on July 10, 

1661, was chosen by governor and council to take Berkeley's 
place on the latter's departure for England. This position as 
acting governor he held until Berkeley's return in November, 

1662. During the following year he was commander of the 
fort at Point Comfort, after which he was granted leave of 
absence for three years. With Thomas Ludwell and Major- 
General Robert Smith he was sent to England to secure the 
repeal of the grant to Arlington and Culpeper, and to obtain 
a charter for the colony. He returned to Virginia as one of 
the commissioners in January, 1677, but left the colony per- 
manently in July of the same year. He was a grandson of 
Thomas Moryson, of Tooley Park, Leicestershire, and a nephew 
of Fynes Moryson, the traveller. His father, Sir Richard 
Moryson, had a long and honorable career in Ireland. 

Instructions to the commissioners were issued October 3 
and repeated November 11, but the business of gathering and 
victualling the troops and of providing for their transporta- 
tion to Virginia was long delayed. 

The fleet consisted of three ships of war, the Bristol, Rose, 
and Dartmouth, and eight hired merchantmen, carrying alto- 
gether more than eleven hundred officers and men, chiefly 
land forces. Sir John Berry and Francis Moryson finally got 
away with the Bristol on November 24, the Dartmouth and the 
merchant ships followed on Sunday, December 3, and the 
Rose, delayed by running aground and damaging her rudder, 



INTRODUCTION 103 

left a day later. After a tedious voyage of ten weeks, the 
Bristol arrived in James River, January 29, 1677, the Dart- 
mouth, February 1, and the others between that date and the 
14th. 

Berry and Moryson at first issued their instructions from 
the Bristol, but some time before February 11, after Berkeley 
had refused to receive them into his house, they took up their 
residence with Colonel Thomas Swann, at Swann's Point, 
nearly opposite the ruins of Jamestown. There was no other 
house within four or five miles. They had already communi- 
cated from the Bristol with Governor Berkeley, whom they 
visited formally on the 12th, and had sent orders to the sher- 
iffs to obtain from the localities statements of complaints and 
grievances. Sessions were held on Mondays, Wednesdays, 
and Fridays for receiving and examining these statements, 
which were to be sent sealed and signed by such as had taken 
oath and were prepared to prove their charges. On February 
29 the commissioners sent a letter to the House of Burgesses, 
which had assembled at Green Spring on the 20th, urging peace 
with the Indians, curtailment of salaries and other public ex- 
penses, and a lowering of charges by keepers of ordinaries. 
They also interrogated many private individuals who came to 
Swann's Point, established a commission for inquiring into 
delinquents' estates, sat as a court of oyer and terminer for 
the trial of the most notorious rebels, and in May met the 
Indian chiefs at the soldiers' camp in Middle Plantation (now 
Williamsburg) and made treaties with them. They also pro- 
vided for the soldiers, a difficult matter as the country was 
desolate and ruined, the ground in February covered with 
snow, and the people of the colony wholly averse to any 
system of quartering. 

The relations of the commissioners with Berkeley, at first 
moderately friendly, eventually became very strained. The 
old governor, after many delays, sailed for England, probably 



104 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

on April 20, with Captain Larrimore in the Rebecca, and after 
a disagreeable voyage, which undoubtedly had a disastrous 
effect on the condition of his health, reached England, where 
he died in August of the same year. The animosity which 
Berkeley felt for the commissioners was shared by his friends, 
Philip Ludwell, Hill, Beverley, and Hartwell, all of whom were 
more or less the objects of attack in the local complaints. 
Notwithstanding a manifest desire of the commissioners to 
be fair, their letters and reports reveal their dislike of these 
men and their conviction that all of them were either respon- 
sible for the revolt or had taken advantage of its failure to 
wreak a harsh vengeance on members of the defeated party. 

The final report of the commissioners was drawn up in 
England after the return of Berry and Moryson, in July, and 
was presented to the Privy Council in October. Two copies 
of this report exist, one among the Colonial Office Papers in the 
PubHc Record Office, C. 0. class 5: 1371, and the other in 
the Pepysian Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge, among 
the manuscripts of Samuel Pepys, who as secretary to the 
Board of Admiralty had much to do with the despatch of the 
expedition. Both are in the handwriting of the secretary of 
the commission, Samuel Wiseman. The volumes in which 
these copies are to be found contain, in addition, large numbers 
of copies of letters and papers written or received by the com- 
missioners, and therefore constitute a kind of entry book of 
business done. Though in arrangement and content these 
two volumes differ somewhat, the most important item, "A 
Narrative of the Rise, Progress, and Cessation of the late 
Rebellion in Virginia, by His Majesty's Commissioners," is 
the same in both. This narrative has been printed in the 
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, IV. 119-154, 
from a copy of the version in the Public Record Office. This 
printed text has been at certain points compared with the 
copy in the Pepysian Library for the purpose of this work. 



A TRUE NARRATIVE OF THE LATE REBEL- 
LION IN VIRGINIA, BY THE ROYAL COM- 
MISSIONERS, 1677 

A True Narrative of the Rise, Progresse, and Cessation of the 
Late Rebellion in Virginia, Most Humbly and Impartially 
Reported by his Majestyes Commissioners Appointed to 
Enquire into the Affaires of the Said Colony. 

In all due observance of his Most Sacred Majesties com- 
mands, wee have imployed our best endeavours to informe 
ourselves (for his Royal Satisffaction) by the most knowing, 
credible and indifferent Persons in Virginia of the true state 
of affairs in that his Majestyes Colony, and of such other 
matters as occasioned the late unhappy Divisions, Distrac- 
tions and Disorders among the People there; which as farr as 
wee can possibly collect from a strict Inquiry, observation, 
examination and the most probable impartial Reports by us 
made and received during our stay upon the Place, seems to 
take its original Rise, as foUoweth, vizt: 

Few or none had bin the Damages sustained by the En- 
glish from the Indians, other than occasionally had happen'd 
sometimes upon private quarells and provocations, untill in 
July, 1675, certain Doegs and Susquahanok Indians on Mary- 
land side, stealing some Hoggs from the English at Potomake 
on the Virginia shore (as the River divides the same), were 
pursued by the English in a Boate, beaten or kill'd and the 
hoggs retaken from them; whereupon the Indians repairing 
to their owne Towne, report it to their Superiors, and how that 
one Mathewes (whose hoggs they had taken) had before abused 
and cheated them, in not paying them for such Indian trucke 
as he had formerly bought of them, and that they took his 
hogs for Satisfaction. Upon this (to be Reveng'd on Mathews) 
a warr Captain with some Indians came over to Potomake 

105 



106 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1675 

and killed two of Mathewes his servants, and came also a 
second time and kilFd his sonne. 

It happened hereupon that Major George Brent and Col. 
George Mason pursued some of the same Indians into Mary- 
land, and marching directly up to the Indian Towne with a 
Party of 30 Virginians came to a certaine House and there 
killed an Indian King and 10 of his men upon the place; the 
rest of the Indians fled for their lives. On this occasion the 
Governor of Maryland writes a Letter to Sir Wm. Berkeley, 
complayning of this rash action and intrusion of the Virginians 
on his Province without his leave or knowledge, the Indians 
and them being at that time in Peace. By what authority 
Brent and Mason went over into Maryland and kill'd those 
Indians is an Article of Inquiry in the Rappahanock Griev- 
ances and the supposed originall cause of the many murders 
that ensued in that county as themselves complaine. 

The Indians persisting to Revenge themselves Inforted^ 
in Maryland and now began to be bold and formidable to the 
English who Besieged them; their Boldness and daring be- 
havior of late tymes and their promptnesse to Fire arms, 
being (indeed) wonderfull, over what they seem'd formerly 
indued with, which doubtlesse was of some advantage extraor- 
dinary to them considering their Small Body, the Virginians 
and Marylanders that Besieged them being said to make a 
neer a thousand men. The siege held 7 weekes, during which 
tyme the English lost 50 men, besides some Horses which 
the Indians tooke, and serv'd themselves to subsist on. But 
Provisions growing very scarce with them during this siege 
the Indians sent out 5 greate men to Treate of Peace, who were 
not Permitted to return to the Fort, but being kept Prisoners 
Some tyme were at last murdered by the English. 

At length (whether through negligence or cowardize) the 
Indians made theire escape through the English, with all 
their wives, children and goods of value, wounding and kill- 
ing some at their sally and going off. After which the English 
returning (as Report Saith), the Marylanders composed a 
Peace with the Salvages, and soe diverted the warr from them- 
selves. 

As yet the General Peace and Government of Virginia 

^ Built themselves a fort. 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 107 

continued undisturb'd, onely some ignorant People grumbrd 
at the 60 lb. of Tob. p. pole/ that necessary Tax, raised at 
two paym'ts to take off the Patents granted to the Lord Arling- 
ton and Lord Culpepper and the Earl of St. Albans and Lord 
Berkly etc. 

But about the beginning of January, 1675-6, a Party of 
those abused Susquahanocks in Revenge of the Maryland 
businesse came suddainly down upon the weak Plantations at 
the head of Rappahanock and Potomaque and killed at one 
time 36 persons and then immediately (as their Custome is) 
ran off into the woods. 

Noe sooner was this Intelligence brought to the Governour 
but he inamediately called a court and ordered a competent 
force of horse and foot to pursue the Murderers under the 
Comand of Sir Henry Chicheley and some other Gentlemen 
of the County of Rappahanock, giving them full Power by 
Comission to make Peace or Warr. But the men being ready 
to march out upon this Service the Governor on a suddaine 
recalls this comission. Causes the men to be disbanded, and 
without any effectual course being taken for present Preserva- 
tion, referrs all to the next assembly ; in the meantime leaving 
the Poore Inhabitants under continual and deadly feares and 
terrors of their Lives. 

In soe much that in the upper Parts of the Parish of Cit- 
ternborne^ in Rappahanock w'ch consisted of 71 Plantations, 
on the 24th of Jan., 1675-6, by the 10th of Febr following was 
reduced to eleven what with those that ran away into the 
heart of the country, and such as stay'd and were cut off 
by the Enemy. 

The assembly mett to consult for the Safety and defence of 
the Country ag't the Incursions and destructions of the In- 
dians, dayly Comitted upon the Inhabitants of Virginia, there 

* A poll-tax was the chief form of direct taxation in the colony. By the 
poorer class of the population it was deemed unjust, as bearing more heavily on 
them than on the rich landowners. The tax here referred to was levied to meet 
the expenses of the agents sent to England in 1675. The patents alluded to are 
that of 1669, granting the Northern Neck, or region between the Potomac and the 
Rappahannock, to the Earl of St. Albans, John Lord Berkeley, and others, and 
that of 1672, granting all Virginia for thirty-one years to Lords Arlington and 
Culpeper. 

' Sittingbourne. 



108 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

having beene within the space of about 12 months before, 
neer 300 Christian persons murder'd by the Indians Enemy. 
What care the Assembly tooke to prevent these massacres was 
onely to build Forts^ at the heads of each River and on the 
Frontiers and confines of the countiy, for erecting of w'ch and 
maintaining Guards on them a heavie leavy was laid by act 
of Assembly on the People; throughout the countiy univer- 
sally disliked before the name of that Imposture Bacon was 
heard of, as being a matter from which was expected great 
charge and little or noe security to the Inhabitants, the Scitua- 
tion of the Virginian Plantations being invironed with thick 
woods, swamps and other covert, by the help of which the 
enemy might at their Pleasure make their approaches undis- 
covered on the most secure of their habitations, as they have 
often done not onely on the Frontiers but in the very heart and 
centre of the country, their sculking nature being apt to use 
these advantages. 

The Murders, Rapines and outrages of the Indians became 
soe much the more Barbarous, fierce and frequent, by how 
much the more they perceived the Pubhc Preparations of the 
English against them. Prosecuting their mischiefs upon the 
extreem Plantations thereby forcing many to dessert them to 
their Ruines, and destroying those that adventur'd to stay 
behind. 

The unsatisfied People finding themselves still lyable to the 
Indian Crueltyes, and the cryes of their wives and children 
growing grievous and intollerai3le to them, gave out in Speeches 
that they were resolved to Plant tobacco rather than pay the 
Tax for maintaining of Forts, and that the erecting of them 
was a great Grievance, Juggle and cheat, and of no more use 
or service to them than another Plantation with men at it, 
and that it was merely a Designe of the Grandees to engrosse 
all their Tobacco into their owne hands. 

Thus the sense of this oppression and the dread of a comon 
approaching calamity made the giddy-headed multitude madd, 

1 In 1675-1676 a series of forts was erected at the upper waters of the 
rivers, along the frontier. Beginning with Stafford County on the Potomac, the 
forts, seven in all, extended southeasterly to the Nansemond. The expense and 
uselessness of these forts constituted a wide-spread grievance (Cal. St. P. Col., 
1674-1676, §§ 909, 939). 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 109 

and precipitated them upon that rash overture of Running 
out upon the Indians themselves, at their owne voluntary 
charge and hazard of their Lives and Fortunes, onely they first 
by Petition humbly craved leave or comission to be ledd by 
any comander or comanders as the Governor should please to 
appoint over them to be their Chief taine or Generall. But / 
instead of Granting this Petition the Governor by Proclama- 
tion xmder great Penalty forbad the like Petitioning for the 
future. 

This made the People jealous that the Governor for the ; 
lucre of the Beaver and otter trade etc. with the Indians, / 
rather sought to protect the Indians than them, Since after 
publick Proclamation prohibiting all trade with the Indians 
(they complaine) hee privately gave comission to some of his 
Friendes to truck with them, and that those persons furnished 
the Indians with Powder, Shott etc. soe that they were better 
provided than his Majestye's Subjects. 

The People of Charles City County (neer Merchants Hope) 
being denyed a Commission by the Governor although he was 
truly informed (as by a Letter of his to his Ma'tie he confess- 
eth) of Several formidable Bodies of Indians coming downe 
on the heads of James River within 50 or 60 miles of the En- 
glish Plantations, and knew not where the Storme would light, 
they begin to beat up drums for Volunteers to goe out against 
the Indians and soe continued Sundry dayes drawing into 
armes, the Magistrates being either soe remise or of the Same 
faction, that they suffered this disaster without contradiction 
or endeavouring to prevent soe dangerous a begining and 
going on. 

The Rout being got together now wanted nor waited for 
nothing but one to head and lead them out on their design. 
It soe happened that one Nathaniel Bacon Junr, a person whose 
lost and desperate fortunes^ had thrown him into that remote 
part of the world about 14 months before, and fram'd him fitt 
for such a purpose, as by the Sequel will appeare, which may 
make a short character of him no impertinent Digression. 

^ Very little is known of Bacon's earlier career, but some color is given to 
the statement regarding his "lost and desperate fortunes" by a suit brought in 
England after his death for the recovery of certain mortgaged properties. The 
papers in this suit are printed in the Virginia Magazine. 



110 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Hee was a person whose erratique fortune had carryed and 
shewne him many Forraigne Parts, and of no obscure Family. 
Upon his first comming into Virginia hee was made one of the 
Councill, the reason of that advancement (all on a suddain) 
being best known to the Governour, which honor made him 
the more considerable in the eye of the Vulgar, and gave some 
advantage to his pernicious designes. Hee was said to be 
about four or five and thirty yeares of age, indifferent tall but 
slender, blackhair'd and of an ominous, pensive, melanchoUy 
Aspect, of a pestilent and prevalent Logical discourse tending 
to atheisme in most companyes, not given to much talke, or 
to make suddain replyes, of a most imperious and dangerous 
hidden Pride of heart, despising the wisest of his neighbours 
for their Ignorance, and very ambitious and arrogant. But all 
these things lay hidd in him till after hee was a councillor, and 
untill he became powerfull and popular. 

Now this man being in Company with one Crews,^ Isham^ 
and Bird,^ who growing to a highth of Drinking and making 
the Sadnesse of the times their discourse, and the Fear they 
all lived in, because of the Susquahanocks who had settled a 
little above the Falls of James River, and comitted many 
murders upon them, among whom Bacon's overseer happened 
to be one, Crews and the rest persuaded Mr. Bacon to goe 
over and see the Soldiers on the other Side James river^ and 

1 Captain James Crews, part owner of Turkey Island, was one of Bacon's 
most loyal friends. He was hanged at the site of the glass factory by Berkeley's 
order, January 24, 1677, after a trial by court martial at Green Spring. 

2 Henry Isham, jr., was the son of Henry Isham, who came to Virginia in 
1656. He does not appear to have taken part in the rebellion, as he returned to 
England, where he died in 1679. He had a plantation in Charles City County 
called Doggams, 

3 William Byrd, son of John Byrd, a London goldsmith, came to Virginia 
shortly before the rebellion to take charge of property left him by his uncle, 
Thomas Stegg, a short distance below the Falls (Richmond). He was a neigh- 
bor of Bacon's, sympathized with him, and, as the text shows, urged him to take 
command of the insurgents at Jordan's Point. He wrote a brief account of the 
rebellion, defending Bacon. He was the father of a more famous son. Colonel 
William Byrd, of Westover. 

* The people of Charles City County, terrified by the Indian attacks, sent 
a delegation to Governor Berkeley asking for permission to go out against the In- 
dians. Berkeley refused the request. Angered at this refusal, a large body of 
volunteers of the county came together and encamped at Jordan's Point, below 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 111 

to take a quantity of Rum with them to give the men to drinke, 
which they did, and (as Crews etc. had before laid the Plot 
with the Soldiers) they all at once in field shouted and cry'd 
out, a Bacon ! a Bacon ! a Bacon ! w'ch taking Fire with his 
ambition and Spirit of Faction and Popularity, easily pre- 
vailed on him to Resolve to head them, His Friends endeav- 
ouring to fix him the Faster to his Resolves by telling him 
that they would also goe along with him to take Revenge 
upon the Indians, and drink Damnation to their Soules to 
be true to him, and if hee could not obtain a Comission they 
would assist him as well and as much as if he had one; to which 
Bacon agreed. 

This Forwardnesse of Bacons greatly cheer'd and animated 
the People, who looked upon him as the onely Patron of the 
Country and preserver of their Lives and Fortunes. 

For he pretended and bosted what great Service hee would 
doe for the country, in destroying the Comon Enemy, securing 
their Lives and Estates, Libertyes, and such like fair frauds 
hee subtily and Secretly insinuated by his owne Instruments 
over all the country, which he seduced the Vulgar and most 
ignorant People to believe (two thirds of each county being 
of that Sort) Soe that theire whole hearts and hopes were set 
now upon Bacon. Next he charges the Governour as negligent 
and wicked, treacherous and incapable, the Lawes and Taxes 
as unjust and oppressive and cryes up absolute necessity of 
redress. 

Thus Bacon encouraged the Tumult and as the unquiet 
crowd follow and adhere to him, he listeth them as they come 
in upon a large paper, writing their name circular wise, that 
their Ring-Leaders might not be found out. 

Having conjur'd them into this circle, given them Brandy 
to wind up the charme, and enjoyn'd them by an oth to stick 
fast together and to him, and the othe being administered, he 
went and infected New Kent County ripe for Rebellion. 

Bacon having gott about 300 men together in armes pre- 
pared to goe out against the Indians, the Governour and his 
Friends endeavour to divert his designes, but cannot. 

the mouth of the Appomattox. When Bacon accepted the leadership of tbis 
band he took the first important step in the rebellion. This event occurred in 
AprU, 1676. 



112 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Hee Proclames Bacon and his Followers Rebells and Muti- 
neers for going forth against the Indians without a Commis- 
sion, and (getting a company of Gentlemen together) the 
Governor marcheth up to the Falls of James River to pursue 
and take Bacon, or to Seize him at his Returne; but all in 
vaine, For Bacon had gott over the River with his Forces and 
hastning away into the woods, went directly and fell upon the 
Indians and killed some of them who were our best Friends of 
Indians and had fought ag't the Susquahanocks enemyes to 
the English. 

The Governour having issued forth a Proclamation import- 
ing noe commerce with the reputed Indian Enemyes, Besides 
the cloggs and conditions w'ch were put on the Garrisons 
placed or to be Placed in the new erected Forts, enjoyning 
them not to make any attempt upon the Indians untill they 
should first give the Governor an account thereof, and receive 
orders from him therein, Put many to a stand, made the Peo- 
ple expostulate and say how shall wee know our enemyes from 
our Friends, are not the Indians all of a colour, and if wee must 
not defend ourselves before they oppose us, they may take 
their usual advantage of surprize, and soe destroy us ere wee 
are capable of making any resistance; Soe that after all that 
charge in erecting of Forts, after all the Troubles of the Con- 
gresses of our forces, after all their toyle and diligence used 
in discovering the enemy (who are seldome to bee dealt with 
but in their owne way of surprize) the very point of Execution 
was to be determined of by a person residing in all likelihood 
at least a 100 miles distant from the Place of action, to the 
losse of opportunityes and utter discouragement of the sol- 
diers and ourselves. Besides of what Security were these 
Forts like to be, when the Indians cutt off and destroyed divers 
people within a small distance of the Forts and some of the 
very Soldiers in them, and they not daring to stir out to re- 
lieve any that were in danger and distresse, themselves being 
scarce secure upon the Place they were Posted on. Nor would 
the people understand any distinction of Friendly Indians and 
Indian Enemyes, for at that tyme it was impossible to dis- 
tinguish one nation from another, they being deformed with 
Paint of many colors, and at best (say they) who is hee that 

^ Bringing together. 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 113 

can doe it, for there was never any open or free Trade among 
us that we might know them, But the whole Trade monopo- 
lized by the Governour and Grandees. 

Soe the common cry and vogue of the Vulgar was, away 
with these Forts, away with these distinctions, wee will have 
warr with all Indians which come not in with their armes, and 
give Hostages for their Fidelity and to ayd against all others; 
we will spare none, and^ wee must bee hang'd for Rebells 
for killing those that will destroy us, let them hang us, wee 
will venture that rather than lye at the mercy of a Barbarous 
Enemy, and be murdered as we are etc. Thus went the ruder 
sort raging and exclaiming agt. the Indians, expressing the 
calamity that befell New England by them.^ While the 
Governour was in the Upper Parts to wait Bacon's returne 
the people below began to draw into armes, and to declare 
against the Forts. Hee to appease the comotions of the 
People leaves off that designe and comes immediately back 
to his own house, and caused at his returne the Surry and 
other Forts to be forthwith dismantled, and dissolving the 
assembly^ that enacted them, gave the country a free new 
election, which new assembly were to be for the Settlement 
of the then distracted condition of Virginia. 

At this new election (such was the Pre valency of Bacon's 
Party) that they chose instead of Freeholders, Free men that 
had but lately crept out of the condition of Servants^ (which 
were never before Eligible) for their Burgesses and such as 
were eminent abettors to Bacon, and for faction and ignorance 
fitt Representatives of those that chose them. 

At the Same time Bacon being come back from his Indian 
march with a thousand braging lyes to the credulous Silly 
People of what feats he had perform'd, was by the Inhabitants 

iThe old "an," meaning "if." 

2 King Philip's War, 1675-1676. 

' This assembly was dissolved March 7, 1676. The new assembly met on 
June 5. After it broke up on June 25, Bacon planned to call another to meet 
September 4, but this plan he never carried out. 

* Until 1670 all freemen had a right to vote, but in that year the franchise 
was restricted to freeholders and housekeepers. Before 1676 a few indentured 
servants, having served their time and acquired a small property, had become 
freeholders and sat in the House of Burgesses, so that the statement in the text 
is incorrect. 



NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

of the county of Henrico chosen a Burgess, as was also Crews 
for the Same county. 

The assembly being mett Bacon comes down in a sloope to 
James Towne. But the People being very Fond of him, would 
not trust his person without a Guard, fearing some violence 
should be offered him by the Governour for what hee had al- 
ready acted against his will, and Soe sent Forty armed men 
along in the Sloope with Bacon, coming somewhat neerer to 
Towne than Swanns Point dropt anchor and sent (as tis said) 
on Shore to the Governour to know if he might in safety come 
on shore, and sett as a Member etc. What answer was re- 
turn'd we have not heard, onely what the Governor caused to 
be given him from the great guns that fired at the Sloope from 
the Towne Fort, soe that having gott his Sloope out of Gun- 
shott, he lay higher up the River, and in the night tyme with 
a party of his men ventured on shore, and having had some 
conference (at Laurances house) with Laurance and Drum- 
ond came off again undiscovered. Several Propositions were 
made and some boats sent off to apprehend him but could 
effect nothing. Bacon endeavours to make his Escape up 
the River. In this Juncture Capt. Thomas Gardner^ Master 
of the Ship Adam and Eve being at Towne, having an order 
from the Governor to pursue and seize him, imediately got on 
Board his ship, and as Bacon returned up the River comanded 
his Sloope in by Firing at him from on Board, and soe tooke 
him and all his men Prisoners and brought them away to the 
Governor at Towne. 

Bacon being delivered up Prisoner to the Governor^ by 
Capt. Gardner, the Governor lifting up his hands and eyes 
said in the hearing of many people, " Now I behold the greatest 

^ Captain Thomas Gardner played an important part in upholding Berkeley's 
authority, as the continuation of the narrative shows. The action of the assem- 
bly in fining him £70 for seizing Bacon, and so violating the privilege of a burgess, 
and for causing the loss of Bacon's sloop, "which perished on shore by the neglect 
of others," and in throwing him into jail where he remained until Berkeley re- 
turned from Accomac, was not approved by the Privy Council. The latter body 
not only authorized the Admiralty to pay Gardner's claim of £567 for freight, 
wages, and victuals, and a bonus of £50 as a reward for his services, but also 
recommended him for employment in the naval service on the first suitable oo- 
casion. {Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial, I., §§ 1183, 1186, 1253, 1286.) 

2 Bacon was delivered to the governor on June 8. ^^^ — 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 115 

/' Rebell that ever was in Virginia/' who (with a dejected look) 
made noe Reply, till after a short pause the Governour ask'd 
Bacon these words : " Sir, doe you continue to be a Gentleman, 
and may I take your word? if soe you are at Liberty upon 
your owne parrol." 

Bacon feignes a most deep sense of shame and sorrow for 
his Guilt, and expresses the greatest kind of obligacion to 
Gratitude towards the Governour imaginable. And to make it 
looke the more reall and sincere drew up an humble Submis- 
sion for and acknowledgem't of his soe late crimes and dis- 
obedience, imploring thereby the Governor's Pardon and Favor, 
which Bacon being in readynesse to Present on his coming 
before the Governor hee told the Councill then Sitting, " Now 
you shall see a Penitent Sinner." 

Whereupon Bacon in very humble manner and with many 
low bowings of his Body approacht the Governor and on his 
knee gave up his Parasiticall Paper into the Governor's hands, 
and soe withdrew himself. 

After a short while hee was sent for in againe and had his 
pardon confirmed to him. Is restor'd into favor and readmitted 
into the councell, to the wonder of all men. 

Now Capt. Gardner instead of a Reward for the Service 
hee performed in taking and bringing away Bacon Prisoner 
was suffered to be fined 70 lb. damage for seizing him and the 
Sloope, although Capt. Gardner had discharged himself of her, 
the sd sloope being afterwards by a storme drove on shore and 
lost.* 

However soe powerfull (it seems) was Bacon's interest in 
this new assembly that he procured a Public order to passe 
ag't Gardner for the payment of the 70 lb. where upon he threw 
Gardner into goale till he found Security for his Enlargement. 
But when they understand that the Governor had not onely 
sett him free, but readmitted him into the Councill, with 
Promise also of a commission to be given him to goe out against 
the Indians, the People were so well pacified for the present 
as that every man with great gladnesse return'd to his owne 
home. 

* It is a wonder Sir Wm. Berkeley (being then in Towne) did not protect or 
preserve a Person he had imploy'd in so signal a Service. (Marginal note in 
original.) 



116 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Bacon attending at Towne for a Comission (w'ch the Gov- 
ernor is said to have promised him) and being delayed or putt 
off, was secretly whispered to by some of his Friends that 
those delayes would endanger his Life, and that if speedily he 
endeavour'd not to prevent it, there was a conspiracy to mur- 
der him on such a night; upon w'ch hee privately leaves the 
Towne. Now whether this was onely a rais'd rumor of Bacon's, 
or a reall truth wee cannot determine, but being rais'd after 
Bacon was gone we suppose it false. 

Hee no sooner was come to the upper Parts of James River, 
but the impatient people run to him to ask how affairs Stood, 
exclaiming still more and more against the Indians, and de- 
sired to know if he had yet a comission, and understanding he 
had or could not obtaine any, they began to sett up their 
throats in one comon kry of othes and curses and cry'd out 
aloud that they would either have a comission for Bacon that 
they might serve under his conduct or else they would pull 
downe the Towne or doe worse to some if they had it not, and 
if Bacon would goe but with them they would gett him a com- 
mission. Thus the Raging Tumult came downe to Towne 
(Sitting the assembly) and Bacon at the head of them, having 
entred the Towne, hee Seises and secures the Principal Places 
and avenues, setts Sentinells and sends forth scouts, so that 
noe Place could bee more Securely guarded. 

Having soe done, hee drawes up all his men in armes against 
the State house where the Governour councell and Burgesses 
were then assembled and Sitting, and sends in to the Assembly 
to know if now they would grant him a commission, which Sr. 
Wm. Berkeley utterly refused, and rising from his chair of 
judicature came downe to Bacon, and told him to his Face 
and before all his men that hee was a Rebell and a Tray tor etc. 
and should have noe commission, and uncovering his naked 
Bosome before him, required that some of his men might shoot 
him, before ever he would be drawne to signe or consent to a 
commission for such a Rebell as Bacon, "Noe" (said the Gov- 
ernor) "lett us first try and end the difference singly between 
ourselves," and offer'd to measure swords with him; all the 
answer Bacon gave the Governor was, "Sir, I came not, nor 
intend to hurt a haire of your honor's head, and for your sword 
your Honor may please to putt it up, it shall rust in the scab- 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 117 

bard before ever I shall desire you to drawe it. I come for a 
commission against the Heathen who dayly inhumanely mur- 
der us and spill our Brethrens Blood, and noe care is taken to 
prevent it," adding, " God damne my Blood, I came for a com- 
mission,. and a commission I will have before I goe," and turn- 
ing to his soldiers, said "Make ready and Present," which they 
all did. Some of the Burgesses looking out at the windows and 
seeing the soldiers in that posture of Firing cry'd out to them, 
"For God's sake hold your handes and forebear a little, and 
you shall have what you please."^ Much hurrying, solicita- 
tion and importunity is used on all sides to the Governor to 
grant Bacon a commission. At last the Governor consents, 
a commission is drawne up and sent him, he dislikes it, they 
pray him to draw or direct one himself and the Governour 
should signe it. Whereupon Bacon drawes up the contents 
of a commission according to his owne mind, and returnes it 
to the Gierke, to prepare one by, which is done, liked of and 
received. 

After the Governor had signed the Principall Commission 
to Bacon, hee is also pleas'd to signe 30 commissions more 
[Blanke] for officers that were to serve under him. 

But Bacon finding occasion for more, sent to Sir WilHam 
Berkley to signe others also, who said hee had signed enough 
already, and bid him signe the rest himself if hee would. 

The assembly also passe orders to raise or presse 1000 men, 
and to raise Provisions etc. for this intended service ag't the 
Indians wherein severell of the councell and assembly-members 
were concern'd and acted in the promoting this designe, en- 
couraging others to list themselves into Bacon's service, and 
particularly one Ballard ^ who endeavoure'd to perswade some 

^ This dramatic scene took place on Saturday, June 24. On the Monday 
following Bacon and his men marched out of town. 

2 Colonel Thomas Ballard, of Jamestown. He is described by Jeffreys a3 
"a fellow of a turbulent, mutinous spirit, yet one that knows how to be as humble 
and penitent as insolent and rebellious, and for these virtues is called by Sir 
William Berkeley his Mary Magdalene, but was before Bacon's chief trumpet, 
parasite, subscriber, and giver of his unlawful oath and an eminent abetter of the 
late rebellion" {Cal. St. P. Col, 1677-1680, § 293). Ballard seems to have been 
particularly influential in persuading the people to take Bacon's "unlawful" 
oath of August 3. He was a councillor in 1670 and 1677, was excluded in the 
latter year, but became speaker in 1680 and 1684. 



118 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

(who scrupled the LegaHty of Bacon's commission) that it 
was fairly and freely granted by Governor, Councill and Bur- 
gesses, this Ballard being one of the councill, and of those that 
both tooke and administered Bacon's Oath. 

There was also an act of Indempnity pass'd to Bacon and 
his party who committed the offence on the assembly, and a 
Publick Letter of applause and approbation of Bacon's actions 
and Loyalty writ to the King and signed by the Governor and 
assembly. Which upon the Breaking up of this Session were 
sent abroad and read among the Ignorant People who believ'd 
thereby that all was well and nothing coming forth of a long 
time to quash, contradict or disowne this Commission, In- 
dempnity, Lre etc. granted to Bacon, But on the contrary 
other comissions of the Governors own signing and seal'd with 
the Publick seal of the Colony coming to them, they were the 
more easily inclined to swallow down so fair a bait not seeing 
Rebellion at the end of it, and most men grew ambitious of 
the service as thinking it both safe and for the Publick good as 
having the approbation of the Governor and assembly, at 
least there yet appeared nothing to the contrary nor of a good 
while after. 

Severall Volunteers and Reformadoes come in to list them- 
selves under Bacon, and many were press'd into this service, 
till at last having his complement of men, and all things else 
being in readynesse according as the Assembly had provided 
for this expedition, A general Rendezvous is appointed by 
Bacon at the Falls of James River, where all things being well 
appointed for the march, Bacon makes a speech to his men. 
Assuring them all of his Loyalty to his Prince, declaring to 
them that his designe was no other than merely to serve his 
King and country and to cleere all suspicion of the contrary 
(if any were amongst them) by what had bin by him already 
acted or Proclamed against him, as also of what he said about 
the procuring his comission; hee urges to them the reasons 
that induced it, the necessity of that tyme that compell'd him, 
the negligence and coldnesse of others that hated him and the 
cryes of his Brethrens blood that alarm'd and waken'd him to 
this Publique revenge, using what motives hee could to raise 
up the spirits of his men. And finally before them all tooke 
the oath of allegiance and supremacy, willing his soldiers also 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 119 

to doe the like, which having freely comply'd with Hee drew 
up an oath of Fidelity to himself e, which hee (as their head and 
General!) required them to take; it comprehended the follow- 
ing contents or heads: 

That they should not conceale any Plot or conspiracy of 
hurt against his Person, but immediately reveale the same to 
him or such others by whome he might come to the knowledge 
of it. 

That if any harme or damage was intended towards any 
of his men, whether by surprizal or otherwise, or any confer- 
ence used, or councell kept about the Same, to discover it. 

That noe commerce or correspondence should be had with 
the Heathen, and if any knowne, to discover it. 

That no news or information should be sent out least him- 
self or army by such intelligence should be endanger'd either 
in Repute or otherwise. 

All Councells, Plotts and conspiracyes known of the 
Heathen, to discover them, etc. 

Just now (even on the very night before their going out on 
the intended march ag't the Indians) a messenger comes Post 
from Gloster Countyes bringing Intelligence to Bacon, that the 
Governor was there endeavouring to raise Forces to come and 
surprize him and his men and that hee was resolved by Force 
to take his extorted commission away from him, For that 
the whole county had Petitioned ag't him as a Rebell and a 
Traytor etc. 

This amusing^ message was noe sooner brought to Bacon, 
but immediately he causes the Drums to Beat and Trumpett 
to Sound for calling his men together to whome he spake after 
this manner : 

Gentlemen and Fellow Soldiers: The Newes just now brought 
mee may not a little startle you as well as myselfe. But seeing it 
is not altogether unexpected, wee may the better beare it and pro- 
vide our remedies. The Governour is now in Gloster County en- 
deavouring to raise Forces against us, having Declared us Rebells 
and Traytors: if true, crimes indeed too great for Pardon; our con- 
sciences herein are our best witnesses, and theres soe conscious, as 
like cowards therefore they will not have the courage to face us. It 
is Revenge that hurryes them on without regard to the Peoples Safety, 

^ "Amusing" in the old sense of "misleading," 



120 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

and had rather wee should be murder'd and our ghosts sent to our 
Slaughter'd country-men by their actings, than wee live to hinder them 
of their Interest with the heathen, and preserve the remaining part 
of our Fellow Subjects from their crueltyes. Now then wee must 
bee forced to turne our swords to our owne defence, or expose our- 
selves to their Mercyes, or Fortune of the woodes, whilest his majes- 
tyes country here lyes in Bloode and Wasting (like a candle) at both 
ends. How Incapable wee may be made (if wee should proceede) 
through Sicknesse, want of Provisions, Slaughter, wounds lesse or 
more, none of us is void of the Sense hereof. 

Therefore while wee are sound at heart, unwearyed and not 
receiving damage by the fate of Warr, lett us descend to know the 
reasons why such Proceedings are used against us, That those whome 
they have raised for their Defence, to Preserve them against the 
Fury of the Heathen, they should thus seeke to Destroy, and to 
Betray our Lives whome they raised to Preserve theirs. If ever 
such Treachery was heard of, such wickednesse and inhumanity 
(and call all the former ages to Witnesse) and if any, that they suf- 
fered in like nature as wee are like by the sword and Ruines of warr. 

But they are all damn'd Cowards, and you shall see they will 
not dare to meete us in the Field to try the Justnesse of our cause 
and soe wee will downe to them etc. 

To which they all cry'd "Amen, amen, wee are all ready 
and will rather die in the Field than be hang'd like Roges, or 
Perish in the woods, expos'd to the Favours of the mercylesse 
Indians." 

How unhappy, unsuccessful! and how fatale this avocation 
prov'd the consequence will but too Plainly Shewe. For 
Bacon (then the hopes of the People) was just upon the Point 
of marching out, and nothing could have call'd him back, or 
turn'd the sword of a civil warr into the heart and bowels of 
the country but soe ill-tymed a Project as this Prov'd. 

And although it is asserted by some that at this tyme there 
was a Paper publickly read to the People that the Governor 
designed onely to raise a Partie to goe out against the Indians 
and not against Bacon offering not onely their Estates, But by 
a solemne oath to bind and confirme this Pretention to the 
People, yet this did noe feates with the People, or tooke any 
other impression on them, save onely that it still more con- 
firmed that Bacons cause was not onely as Good as the Gov- 
ernors (when their Pretensions were now equally ag't the In- 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 121 

dians) But also that the commission granted him was faire 
and legall, seeing he protested not to prosecute or goe against 
him for it. 

Now in vaine the Governor attempts raising a force against 
Bacon, and although the Industry and endeavors hee used to 
effect it was great, yet at this Juncture it was impossible, for 
Bacon at this tyme was so much the hopes and Darling of the 
people that the Governor's interest prov'd but weake, and his 
Friends so very few that he grew sick of the Essay and with 
very Griefe and sadnesse of Spirit for soe bad successe (as is 
said) Fainted away on Horseback in the Field,* and hearing 
of Bacons being on his march to Gloster, hee was feigne to fly 
thence to Accomack, leaving now the Seat of the Government 
lyable to the Usurpation of that Rebell who had then also the 
Militia of the country in his hands to inforce his owne arbitrary 
Impositions on the People, as hee afterwards did at his coming 
to Gloster. Where being arrived with his Forces, hee findes 
the Governour fled, and (without more adoe) the Field his 
owne; soe leading his men to Middle-Plantacion (the very 
heart and centre of the country) hee there for some time 
Quarters them. Then issues forth Proclamation inviting the 
Gentlemen of Virginia to come in and consult with him for 
the present Settlement of that his Ma'tyes distracted Colony 
to Preserve its future Peace, and advance the effectual Prose- 
cuting of the Indian warr. Severall gentlemen appearing on 
this Summons of Bacons at Middle-Plantation, mett him at 
one Capt. Thorps,^ where (under a great guard) were Severall 
persons confin'd. After a long debate, pro and con, a mis- 
chievous writing was drawne up and produced by Bacon, unto 

* By this it is plain that the Governor was put upon this successless Essay 
by the few contrivers of Gloster Petition, for had it been the addresse of the whole 
county (as pretended) they would doubtlesse all have own'd it and stood by the 
Governor and not so basely abandoned him and his cause, but there was not one 
subscriber to this Petition. (Marginal note in the original.) 

1 Captain Otho Thorp of York County was a justice in 1674, and a major 
in the militia in 1680. He afterward returned to England, where he died in 1687. 
At his house in Middle Plantation Bacon held his convention of August 3, which 
marked the beginning of the actual rebellion against Berkeley's authority, and 
there, too, was held the assembly that met on February 20, 1677. Thorp suf- 
fered much from the rebellion. At first he identified himself with the movement, 
by signing a paper, declared to have been "extracted by menaces and obtained 



122 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

which (the doors of the house being fast lock'd on them) many 
by threats, Force and Feare were f eigne to subscribe. The 
tenor of the oath^ is as follows: 

1. You are to oppose what Forces shall be sent out of England 
by his Majesty against mee, till such tyme I have acquainted the 
King with the state of this country, and have had an answer. 

2. You shall sweare that what the Governor and councill have 
acted is illegal and destructive to the country, and what I have done 
is according to the Lawes of England. 

3. You shall sweare from your hearts that my comission is law- 
full and legally obtained. 

4. You shall sweare to divulge what you shall heare at any 
time spoken against mee. 

5. You shall keepe my secrets, and not discover them to any 
person. 

Copyes of this oath are sent to all or most of the countyes 
of Virginia, and by the Magistrates and others of the respec- 
tive Precincts administered to the People, which none (or very- 
few) for feare or Force durst or did refuse. To Perfect all at 
once, and to make all secure, which soe long as the Governour 
was at Liberty they thought could not bee. But that hee would 
still seeke means whereby to regaine his Place and authority, 
and not to be soe basely extruded that high Trust lawfully 
residing in him, They take Capt. Larrimore's ship by sur- 
prize, man her with 200 men and Guns to goe to Accomack 
and seize the Governour, Pretending to send him home Pris- 
oner to his Ma'tie for to receive Tryall of his demeritts towards 
his Majesties subjects of Virginia, and for the likely losse of 
that Colony for want of due and tymely care for the Preserva- 
tion of it against the dayly Incursions and Encroachments of 
the Native Salvages, who had destroy'd and laid wast the 

by Giles Bland, when Thorp was by drink bereaved of his common reason," but 
afterward refused to take up arms in the insurgent cause. As a result he and his 
wife were imprisoned by Bacon and plundered of property worth £1200, while 
Berkeley stripped him of the remainder of his estate {Virginia Magazine, V. 67; 
Acts P. C. Col, I., §1189). 

1 Three oaths were exacted by Bacon : one shortly after June 25 at the ren- 
dezvous, Falls of James River, just before the march against the Indians; the 
second, the "illegal" oath, at Middle Plantation; and the third, the same as the 
second, taken by the Gloucester men at Tindall's Point in October. 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 123 

Plantations and cutt of many of the Familyes of the EngHsh 
etc. 

The Comand of which charge was by Bacon comitted to 
one Carver a vahent, Stout seaman and Gyles Bland (both 
since executed) onely Mr. Bacon Putting more confidence in 
Carver had chiefly intrusted Carver on this designe by a 
Private Comission w'ch Bland knew not of but supposed they 
had both equal Power, 

Things thus agitated Bacon reassumes his first designes of 
marching out against the Indians, Imprisoning some before 
hee went out, others hee had of a long continuance in hold, 
who in the beginning thought and try'd to divert his designes; 
othersome hee Subtly brought over to his Side and such whose 
liberty (if left behind) hee jealously suspected might raise any 
party ag't him in his absence, hee tooke along with him. 

Bacon goes up again to the Falls of James River, where hee 
bestirs himself lustily in order to a speedy march against the 
Indians, in prosecution of his first pretentions w'ch were ag't 
the Occannechees and Susquahannocks. From the Falls of 
James River hee marcheth over to the Freshes of Yorke^ to 
pursue the Pamunkey Indians, whose propinquity and neigh- 
bourhood to the English and courses among them, was a Pre- 
tended reason to render the Rebells Suspicious of them, as 
being acquainted and knowing both of the manners, customes, 
and nature of our People, and the Strength, Situation and 
advantages of the country, and soe capable of doing of hurt 
and damage to the English, although it was well knowne to 
the whole country that the Queene of Pamunkey and her 
People had nere at any time betray'd or injuryed the English. 
But among the Vulgar it matters not whether they be Friends 
or Foes Soe they be Indians. Bacon being here mett with all 
the Northern Forces from Potomack, Rappahanock and those 
Parts under the comand of Col. Brent,^ they joyne together 
and marching to the highest Plantations seated upon Yorke 
River, were there detained by a day or two's Raine, and for 

^The parts of York River above tide-water. ~"" ~~- 

C* Giles Brent, a cousin of George Brent of Woodstock, was of Retirement 
plantation in Stafford County. He was the son of Giles Brent of Maryland 
and the "empress" of the Piscattoway Indians and he claimed the title to his 
,, mother's crown and sceptre. He received a captain's commission from Bacon, 



124 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

fear of want of Provisions Bacon addresseth himself to the 
Army and Speakes to them after this manner : 

That hee feared the badnesse of the weather (which was Hke 
to continue) would much hinder their expectations of meeting with 
the enemy soe soone as otherwise they might the weather being good, 
which would cause a second losse not to be helped or prevented at 
present which hee feared would be in the want of Provisions. To 
help which in tyme, and to lett them all know, for the future hee 
would order but allowances, soe that (being not far out of the reach 
of the settl'd Plantations) all those he gave full leave to returne, the 
heate of whose courage and resolutions for the Suppressing of the 
heathen, and revenge the Bloods of their Friends and acquaintances 
they had shed, were not above and more than the particular regard 
and care they had for theire Belly. Bidding them draw forth if any 
such were, and be gone, for I am sure (said hee) where there shal be 
occasion for such a fright, I shall find them the worst of cowards, 
serving for number but not for service, and starve my best men, 
who would beare the Brunt of all, and dishearten others of half 
mettle from freely engaging etc. 

Amongst which onely 3 withdrew, soe they were disarm'd 
and sent in. 

The bad weather abating he proceeds on his march and in 
a short time falls into a Path of the Indians which lead to a 
maine one which made him imagine himself to be neere their 
main camp ; but by the Scouts sent out for discovery, hee found 
nothing more yet, than a continued large Path and woods, 
which made them break the order of marching, and for expe- 
dition and conveniency to march at randome, soe continuing 
all along till this Path brought them to a Point, on each Side 
whereof and before it was a swamp; upon which Point the 
Pamunkey Indians had severall cabbins. 

Some Indian Scouts were sent out before for discovery (w'ch 
were about 10 Indians for the service of Bacon's army) who 
being espied by the contrary Party of Indians they lett them 
come up soe nigh as to fire at them, which gave the alarme to 

though but twenty-four years old, and accompanied him on his first expedition 
against the Indians. Afterward, however, he withdrew with his body of four 
hundred men and returned to the plantations. There he raised a force of a 
thousand men and marched to Berkeley's assistance when besieged at Jamestown. 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 125 

the English, who riding downe in great disorder and hast to 
the Point (being about half a miles distance off) the Indians 
broke to the very edge of the swamp, which prov'd somirey 
that Bacon and his men were presently at a ne plus ultra, so 
that the mighty deale that was done at this tyme was onely 
the taking of a little Indian child, and the killing an Indian 
woman. 

It chanced that the Queene of Pamunkey with severall of her 
Principall Indians and others was not far off when this onset 
happen'd and had notice of Bacon's approach on her Track of 
which her owne scouts had made discovery to her, who leav- 
ing behind her all her goods and Indian corne vessels etc., and 
as much as shee could to decline all occasion of offending the 
English whom she ever so much loved and reverenced, pri- 
vately obscured from them, charging her own Indians that if 
they found the English coming upon them that they should 
neither fire a gun nor draw an arrow upon them. 

It soe happened in the Stieffling Pursuit that they light on 
an old Indian woman that was the Queen's nurse, whom they 
took Prisoner and hoped Shee would be their Guide to find out 
those Indians that fled. But instead of directing them that 
way she led them quite contrary, Soe that following her the 
remainder of that and almost another day, perceiving them- 
selves mislead by her and little likelihood of meeting with 
them, Bacon gave command to his Soldiers to knock her in 
the head, which they did, and they left her dead on the way. 

They marching after this at random (yet hoping and aim- 
ing still to find them out) at last met with an Indian Path 
against which led them to a main Swamp, where several na- 
tions of Indians lay encamped, and striking through Straight 
of one of them fell in upon them, where the first that was taken 
was a young woman belonging to the Nanjaticoe Indians, half 
starved, and so not able to escape. The main of them fled 
and upon search made after them they discovered and killed 
two or three Indian men and as many women. 

The tyme of the meeting of the new assembly (called 
Bacon's assembly) now drawing nigh, he thought it expedient 
to give the Starved and languishing expectations of the Peo- 
ple a little relief and send some on purpose to give them an 
account of their Proceedings and the hopes that they had of 



126 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

destroying the Heathen^ and that he would be with them with 
all possible Speede. 

Now Bacon's high Pretences raised the People's hopes to 
the highest pitch and at the same time put him on a necessity 
of doing Something before he returned, which might not alto- 
gether fall short of his own Vaunting, but being hitherto dis- 
appointed, his army tyred. Murmuring, impatient, half starved, 
dissatisfied, he gives liberty to as many as would to return in 
with the foot he had ordered to march in before him, giving 
them two days' provisions to reach (if they could) the English 
Plantations; those that were dismissed being the Northern 
forces commanded by Colo. Brent. (The whole being now 
400 men) with the rest he moves on hunting and beating the 
Swamps up and down, at last meets with an opening of a tract 
upon high land, which he follows so long that almost all his 
Provisions were spent, and forced to come to quarter allow- 
ances, and having led them far into the woods he makes a 
short halt and speaks thus to them : 

Gentlemen, 

The indefatigable Paines which hitherto wee have taken doth 
require abundantly better successe than as yett wee have mett with. 
But there is nothing soe hard, but by Labour and Industry it may bee 
overcome, which makes me not without hope of obtaining my desires 
against the heathen in meeting with them to quit Scores for all their 
Barbarous crueltyes done us. 

I had rather my carcase should lye rotting in the woodes, and 
never see English mans face againe in Virginia, than misse of doing 
that service the country expects from me, and I vowed to performe 
against these heathen, which should I returne not succesfuU in some 
manner to damnific and affright them wee should have them as much 
animated as the English discouraged, and my adversaryes to insult 
and reflect on mee; that my Defence of the country is but Pretended 
and not Reall and (as they already say) I have other Designs and 
make this but my Pretense and cloke. But that all shall see how 
devoted I am to it, considering the great charge the country is at in 
fitting mee forth and the hopes and expectation they have in mee, 
All you gentlemen that intend to abide with mee must resolve to 
undergoe all the hardshipps this wilde can afforde, dangers and suc- 
cesses and if need bee to eate chinkapins^ and horseflesh before hee 

* The chincapin is the dwaxf chestnut. 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 127 

returns. Which resolve I have taken therefore desire none but those 
which will so freely adventure, the other to Returne in, and for the 
better knowledge of them I will separate my campe some distance 
from them bound home. 

Which done, and the next morning by an hour and half of 
the sun, the one marching on towards the Plantation, and the 
other on the Indian designe. They were not three hours sepe- 
rated before the Rebell Bacon falls upon the Pamunkey In- 
dians, who lay incamped beyond a small branch of a swamp 
or Run of water, having a swamp on the right hand, and a small 
swamp or nm on the left of them, betweene which was a fine 
piece of champion^ land, but full of thickett, small oke, sap- 
lings, chinkapin Bushes and Grape vines, which the Indians 
made their covert. As the onsett was given they did not at all 
oppose, but fled, being followed by Bacon and his Forces killing 
and taking them Prisoners, and looking for the Plunder of the 
Field which was Indian matts, Basketts, matchcotes, parcells 
of wampampeag and Roanoke (w'ch is their money) in Baggs, 
skins, Furrs, Pieces of Lynnen, Broad cloth, and divers sorts 
of English goods (w'ch the Queene had much value for),* 45 
captives which upon sound of Trumpett was brought together 
and delivered in by order of Bacon; the Plunder and captives 
estimated noe lesse worth than 6 or 700, the Goodes being 3 
horse loades. 

The good Queen of Pamunky during this attaque to save 
her Life betooke herselfe to flight with onely one little Indian 
Boy of about 10 yeares old along with her, and when she was 
once coming back with designe to throw herself upon the 
mercy of the English, Shee happened to meet with a deade 
Indian woman lying in the way being one of her own nation; 
which struck such terror in the Queene that fearing their 
cruelty by that gastly example shee went on her first intended 
way into wild woodes where shee was lost and missing from 
her owne People fourteen dayes, all that tyme being Sustained 
alive onely by gnawing sometimes upon the legg of a terrapin, 

* Champaign, level. 

* The Indian Prisoners were some of them sold by Bacon and the rest dis- 
posed of by Sr. Wm. Berkeley, all but five w'ch were restored to the Queen by 
Ingram who was Bacon's Gen'll. (Marginal note in original.) 



128 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

which the little Boy found in the woods and brought her when 
she was ready to dye for want of Foode, and of a great while 
had not Provisions for her support but noe necessity could 
incline her to adhere to Bacon's overtures. While Bacon con- 
tinued out upon this Indian Enterprize the Governour had the 
good fortune to retake Larrimore's Shipp from the Rebells 
with which they designed to seize the Governor and carry him 
home Prisoner to England; the manner of this reprisal was 
thus: 

Carver with a party of men being gone on shore to treat 
with the Governor at Accomack, before w'ch Larrimore's ship 
lay, (the comand whereof Carver had usurped) and leaving 
onely Bland on board with a number of men to w'ch the sea- 
men of the shipp were not inferior, Larrimore Sends a Letter 
to the Governour, to acquaint him how things stood on Board, 
and that if hee could send him off a party of Gentlemen in 
Boates hee would enter them all at the Gun room Ports, where 
having already secur'd the Enemyes armes, hee doubted not 
but to surprize the men and retake the shipp. 

The Governor privately ordered off a party of his owne 
under the command of Col. Philip LudwelP while he capitu- 
lated with Carver in dilatory manner to give his owne party 
tyme to get on Board, which they did, all things succeeding 
answerable to the design. Bland being taken together with the 
rest of the Rebells; soone after Carver parting with the Gov- 
ernor rowes on Board, they permitt the Boat to come so neere 
as that they might fire directly downe upon her, and soe they 
also comanded Carver on Board and secur'd him. When hee 
saw this surprize hee storm'd, tore his haire off and curst, and 
exclaim'd at the cowardice of Bland that had betray'd and lost 
all their designes. 

The Governor having regain'd this ship goes on Board and 

^ Colonel Philip Ludwell, brother of Thomas Ludwell, lived at Richneck, 
in James City County, near Middle Plantation. He came to Virginia about 
1664 and soon rose to prominence, becoming one of the Green Spring faction of 
Berkeleyites. His intimacy with the governor appears from the fact that he mar- 
ried (as her third husband) Berkeley's widow. Lady Frances, who had abetted 
her husband, the governor, against the English commissioners in 1677. Lud- 
well was of a hot temper, "rash and fiery," and was excluded from the council 
in 1679. He became governor of Carolina, 1689-1694, returned to England 
afterward, and died there. 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 129 

in company with the ship Adam and Eve Capt. Gardner Com- 
ander 16 or 17 Sloopes and about 600 men in armes goes up to 
James Towne, which hee fortifies as well as he could and again 
Proclames Bacon and his Party Rebells and Traytors, threat- 
ening them with the utmost severityes of Law. 

Upon this Bacon calls his few men together which upon a 
muster made a little after the last skirmish with the Indians 
(with Baggatiers^ and all) were but 136 tyr'd men, and told 
them how the Governor intended to proceed against him and 
them. 

But this rather animated and provoked new courage in 
them than any wise daunted them, soe that among other 
cheerfull expressions they cry'd out they would stand by him 
their Generall to the last. 

He hearing such hearty expressions from tyred soldiers 
who embraced his service and refused the Plunder hee now 
offer'd them, was highly pleased and said to them : 

Gentlemen and Fellow Soldiers, How am I transported with 
gladnesse to find you thus unanimous, Bold and daring, brave and 
Gallant; you have the victory before you fight, the conquest before 
battle. I know you can and dare fight, while they will lye in their 
Place of Refuge and dare not soe much as appeare in the Field before 
you: your hardynesse shall invite all the country along as wee 
march to come in and second you. 

The Indians wee beare along with us shal be as soe many mo- 
tives to cause Reliefe from every hand to be brought to you. The 
Ignomy of their actions cannot but soe reflect upon their spirits, as 
they will have noe courage left to fight you. I know you have the 
Prayers and well wishes of all the People in Virginia, while the other 
are loaded with their curses. 

Bacon in most incens'd manner Threathens to be revenged 
on the Governor and his party, swearing his soldiers to give 
noe quarter and professing to scorne to take any themselves, 
and soe in great fury marches on towards James Towne,^ onely 

* "Baggage-carriers," apparently. 

2 Bacon marched from New Kent County down the left bank of the Chicka- 
hominy to Green Spring, where Berkeley's house stood, and thence south to the 
clearing formerly known as Argall's Gift or Town, about a mile northwest of 
Jamestown. The lower half of this clearing was called Paspahegh Old Fields, 
and there Bacon made his last halt preparatory to attacking Jamestown. 



130 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

halting a while about New Kent to gain some fresh Forces, 
and sending to the upper parts of James River for what they 
could assist him with. 

Having increased his number to about 300 in all, hee pro- 
ceeds directly to Towne, as hee marcheth the People on the 
high wayes coming forth Praying for his happiness and railing 
ag't the Governour and his party, and seeing the Indian cap- 
tives which they led along as in a shew of Tryumph, gave him 
many thankes for his care and endeavours for their Preserva- 
tion, bringing him forth Fruits and Victualls for his Soldiers, 
the women telling him if hee wanted assistance they would 
come themselves after him. 

Intelligence coming to Bacon that the Governour had good 
in Towne a 1000 men well arm'd and resolute, " I shall see that," 
saith hee, "for I am now going to try them." Being told that 
there was a party of Horse of the Governors of abt. 60 Scout- 
ing out to observe his motion, hee smilingly answer 'd hee feared 
them not coming soe neere him as to know how he did. But 
hee not too heedlesse of all reports nor in him Selfe to sure of 
their cowardice, drawes up his men in Green Spring Old Fields, 
hee tells them that if ever they will fight they will doe it now, 
before (saith hee) "I march up to their workes, having all the 
advantages of ground, places retreats, their men fresh and 
unwearied and what not advantages" (Saith Bacon) "to us 
soe few weake and Tyr'd. 

" But I speake not this to discourage you, but to acquaint 
you (as you shall finde) what advantages they will neglect and 
loose, which" (sayes he) "if they had the courage to maintain 
that which they declare against us as Rebells, Traytors, etc., 
their allegiance would be but faintly Defended to lett us take 
that which they might command; come on, my hearts of 
gold, hee that dyes in the field lyes in the Bedd of honour." * 

In the evening Bacon with his Small tyr'd Body of men, 
his Forlorne^ marching some distance before, comes into Pas- 
pahayes old Fields and advancing on horseback himselfe on 
the Sandy Beech before the Towne comands the Tnmipet to 

* September 13th, 1676. The siege of James Towne. Note that Bacon's 
men had mareh'd that day betwixt 30 and 40 miles to come to James Towne. 
(Marginal note in original.) 

^ Vanguard. 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 131 

sound, Fires his carbyne, dismounts, surveys the Ground and 
orders a French worke to be cast up. 

All this night is spent in falling of Trees, Cutting of Bushes 
and throwing up Earth, that by the help of the moone light 
they had made their French before day, although they had 
but two axes and 2 spades in all to performe this work with. 

About day-break next morning six of Bacons Soldiers ran 
up to the Pallasadees of the Towne and fired briskly upon the 
Guard, retreating Safely without any damage at first (as is 
reported) the Governor gave Comand that not a Gun should 
be fir'd ag't Bacon or his party upon paine of death, pretend- 
ing to be loath to spill bloode and much more to be Beginner 
of it. Supposing the Rebells would hardly be soe audacious as 
to fire a gun against him. But that Bacon would rather have 
sent to him and sought his Reconciliation soe that some way 
or other might have bin found out for the Preventing of a 
Warr, to which the Governour is said to have shewne some 
Inclination upon the account of the service Bacon had per- 
formed (as he heard) against the Indian Enemy, and that he 
had brought severall Indian Prisoners along with him, and 
especially for that there were severall Ignorant People which 
were deluded and drawne into Bacon's Party and thought of 
noe other designe than the Indian Warr onely, and so knew 
not what they did. 

But Bacon (pretending distrust of the Governor) was soe 
farr from all thought of a Treaty that hee animates his men 
against it, telhng them that hee knew that party to be as Per- 
fidious as cowardly, and that there was noe trust to be reposed 
in such, who thinke it noe Treachery by any wayes to Sup- 
presse them, and for his tendemesse of Shedding Blood which 
the Governor pretends, and preventing a warr, sayes Bacon, 
" There are some here that know it to be no longer since than 
last weeke that hee himself comanded to be Fired against us 
by Boats which the Governor sent up and downe to places 
where the country's Provisions were kept for mainteinance of 
the Indian Warr, to fetch them away to support a warr amongst 
ourselves, and wounded some of us (which was done by Sorrell) 
which were against the designe of converting these stores to 
soe contrary a use and intention of what they were raised for 
by the People." Bacon moving downe towards the Towne 



132 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

and the Shipps being brought before the Sandy Beach the 
better to annoy the enemy in case of any attempt of theirs to 
storme the Palassadoes, upon a signal! given from the Towne 
the Shipps fire their Great Gunns, and at the same tyme they 
let fly their Small-shot from the Palassadoes. But that small 
sconce^ that Bacon had caused to be made in the night of 
Trees, Bush and Earth (under w'ch they lay) soe defended 
them that the shott did them noe damage at all, and was re- 
turn'd back as fast from this little Fortresse. In the heat of 
this Firing Bacon commands a party of his men to make every 
one his Faggott and put it before his Breast and come and 
lay them in order on top of the Trench on the outside and at 
the end to enlarge and make good the Fortification, which 
they did, and orders more spades to be gott, to helpe to make 
it yet more defensible, and the better to observe their motion 
ordered a constant sentinel in the daytime on top of a Brick 
Chimney* (hard by) to discover from thence how the men in 
Towne mounted and dismounted. Posted and reposted, drew 
on and off, what number they were, and how they moved. 
Hitherto their happen'd noe other action, than onely Firing 
great and small Shott at distances. 

But by their movings and drawings up about Towne, 
Bacon understood they intended a Sally and accordingly pre- 
pares to receive them, draw up his men to the most advantage- 
ous places he could, and now expected them (but they observ'd 
to draw off againe for some tyme) and was resolved to enter 
the Towne with them, as they retreated, as Bacon expected 
and foretold they would do. In this Posture of expecta- 
tion Bacon's Forces continued for a hour till the watchman 
gave notice that they were drawne off againe in Towne, soe 
upon this Bacon's Forces did soe too. Noe sooner were 
they all on the Rebells Side gone off and squandered but all 
on a sudden a Sally is made by the Governor's Party, yett in 
this great hurry and disorder on t'other side they soe received 
them as that they forced them to retreat in as much confusion 
as they found them, to the shame of their braging Pretences 

1 Sconce, an outlying rampart for defense. 

* On Col. Morysons Plantation that was. (Marginal note in original.) 
This was the chimney of the old glass factory, the factory itself having long 
since disappeared. 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 133 j 

of valour, courage and Resolution at their undertaking this at- 
tacque and of the cause they defended who yet call themselves 
the Loyall party, and yet dessert the Governour, and now 
begin to importune him to quit the Towne. But wee cannot 
give a better account, nor yet a truer (soe far as wee are in- 
formed) of this action than what this Letter of Bacon's relates : 

From the Camp at Sandy Beach, 

S'ber the 17th, 1676. 
Capt. Wm. Cookson} and Capt. Ed'w Skewon : 

Before wee drew up to James Towne a party of theirs fled before 
us with all hast for Feare : with a small party of horse (being darke 
in the Evening) wee rode up to the Point at Sandy Beach, and 
sounded a Defiance which they answered, after which with some 
difficulty for want of materialls we entrenched ourselves for that 
night, our men with a great deal of Bravery ran up to their works 
and fir'd Briskly and retreated without any losse. 

The next morning our men without the workes gave them some 
Braves and contempts to try their mettle, upon w'ch they fir'd their 
great guns with Small shott to cleere their workes, but our men 
Recovered the workes, and wee are now entrenched very secure both 
from the Shipps and Towne. Yesterday they made a Sally with 
horse and Foote in the Van, the Forlorne being made up of such men 
as they had compell'd to serve; they came up with a narrow Front, 
and pressing very close upon one anothers shoulders that the For- 
lorne might be their shelter; our men received tiiem soe warmly 
that they retired in great disorder, throwing downe theire armes, 
left upon the Bay, as also their Drum and dead men, two of which 
our men brought into our Trenches and Buried with severall of their 
armes. This day wee shewed them our Indian captives upon the 
workes, the People come in from all parts most bravely, and wee are 
Informed that great multitudes of men are up for us in the Isle of 
Wight and Nancymond, and onely expect orders, as also all the 
South side of the River over against us in great numbers. They 
shew themselves such Pitifull cowards, contemptable as you would 
admire^ them. It is said that Hubert FarrelP is shot in the Belly, 

^ Captain William Cookson was "condemned at my house and executed 
when Bacon lay before Jamestown" (Berkeley's report, Cal. St. P. Col, 1677- 
1680, § 303). His estate was confiscated. The name of Captain Edward 
Skewon does not appear in any of the lists. 

^ I. e., so contemptible that you would wonder at them. 

^ Captain Hubert Farrill was one of those named in Bacon's Declaration 
against the government. Later, in company with Ludwell and the elder Bacon, 



134 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

Hartwell ^ in the Legg, Smith in the head, Mathewes ^ with others, 
yet as yet wee have noe certaine account. They tooke a solemne 
oath when they Sally ed out either to Rout us, or never Returne; But 
you know how they use to keepe them : I believe the Shipps are weary 
of their Bargaine finding their shotts all inconsiderable. This is our 
present Intelligence; be sure to take care of the Upper Parts against 
the Pyrats, and bid the men be courageous for that all the country 
is bravely Resolute. 

I had almost forgot to tell you that Chamberlaine' out of a 
Bravado came with a Sloope, and lay under our workes, and with 
abundance of vaunting and railing Expressions, Threatned great 
things, but finding it too warme was feigne to take his Boate and 
leave his Sloope; Wee guesse hee was wounded by his ceasing to Baule 
(being much jeer'd by our men) which you know hee is not us'd to doe. 

Be sure you encourage the Soldiers in the Upper Parts and lett 
them know what a PitifuU Enemy wee have to deale with. Wee 
have just now two great Guns come for one Battery, which they are 
much afjfraid off as I am informed. This is the most of our present 
Newes, of other Passages by the Messenger you may be informed. 

Your reall Friend, 

Nath: Bacon. 

After this succeslesse Sally the courages and numbers of 
the Governor's party abated much, and Bacons men thereby 
became more bold and daring in soe much that Bacon could 
Scarce keepe them from immediately falling to storme and enter 
the Towne; but hee (being as wary as they rash) perswaded 
them from the attempt, Bidding them keepe their courages 
untill such tyme as hee found occasion and opportunity to 
make use of them, telling them that hee doubted not to take 

he led a party of men against the insurgents quartered at the house of the latter ^ 
in York County under Major Whaly. There Farrill was killed. See pp. 89—92. -^ 

1 Captain WilHam Hartwell, brother of Henry Hartwell, joint author with 
Blair and Chilton of The Freseiti State of Virginia, 1697-1698, took a leading and 
oppressive part in putting down the rebellion, and many complaints against his 
high-handed proceedings were sent to the commissioners, March-May, 1677. 

'^ The identity of Smith and Mathewes is doubtful. 

3 Probably Captain Thomas Chamberlaine of Henrico, whose house was 
plundered by Bacon's troops. He was "cursed with a passionate temper that 
brooked neither opposition nor restraint. His native want of self-control was 
accentuated by a strong taste for liquor, the consequence of which was that he 
found himself constantly involved in quarrels and brawls." (Bruce, Institutional 
History of Virginia, I. 507.) 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 135 

the Towne without losse of a man, and that one of their Lives 
was of more value to him than the whole world. 

Having planted his great Guns, hee takes the wives and 
female Relations of such Gentlemen as were in the Governor's 
Service against him (whome hee had caused to be brought to 
the workes) and Places them in the Face of his Enemy, as 
Bulworkes for their Battery, by which Policy hee promised 
himself (and doubtlesse had) a goode advantage, yet had the 
Governors party by much the odds in number besides the ad- 
vantage of tyme and Place. 

But soe great was the Cowardize and Basenesse of the Gen- 
erality of Sir William Berkeley's Party (being most of them 
men intent onely upon plunder or compell'd and hired into his 
service) that of all, at last there were onely some 20 Gentlemen 
willing to stand by him, the rest (whome the hopes or promise 
of Plunder brought thither) being now all in hast to be gone 
to secure what they had gott; soe that Sir Wm. Berkeley him- 
selfe who undoubtedly would rather have dyed on the place 
than thus deserted it, what with importunate and resistlesse 
Solicitations of all, was at last over persuaded, nay hurryed 
away against his owne Will to Accomack and forced to leave 
the Towne to the mercy of the enemy. 

Soe fearfull of Discovery they are, that for secrecy they 
imbarque and weigh anchor in the night and silently fall downe 
the River, thus flying from the Face of an enemy that during 
this siege (which lasted one whole weeke) lay exposed to much 
more hardships, want and inaccommodation than themselves, 
besides the fatigue of a long march at their first coming to 
Towne, for this very service was supposed to be the Death of 
Bacon, who by lying in a wett Season in his Trenches before 
Towne contracted the Disease whereof hee not long after 
dyed. 

Bacon haveing early Intelligence of the Governor and his 
Party's Quitting the Towne the night before, enters it without 
any opposition, and soldier like considering of what impor- 
tance a Place of that Refuge was, and might againe bee to the 
Governor and his Party, instantly resolves to lay it level with 
the ground, and the same night he became poses'd of it, sett 
Fire to Towne, church and state house (wherein were the 
Countryes Records which Drummond had privately convey'd 



136 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS (1676 

thense and preserved from Burning). The towns consisted of 
12 new brick Houses besides a considerable number of Frame 
houses with brick chimneys, all which will not be rebuilt (as 
is computed) for fifteen hundred pounds of Tobacco.^ 

Now those who had so lately deserted it, as they rid a little 
below in the River in the Shipps and Sloopes (to their shame 
and regret) beheld by night the Flames of the Towne, which 
they soe basely forsaking, had made a sacrifice to mine. 

Bacon goes next to Greene Spring, and during his stay 
thereabouts draws a protest or oath against the Governor and 
his Party, which is said to be imposed on the People and taken 
by above 600 at once in Gloster County, and also forced upon 
others in several parts of the Country and is as follows: 



Bacons Oath of Fidelity. 

Whereas Sir William Berkeley Knight, late Governor of Vir- 
ginia hath in a most Barbarous and abominable manner exposed 
and betrayed our lives, and for greediness of sordid Gaine did defer 
our just defence and hinder all the Loyall endeavours of his Majesties 
faithfull subjects; and further when the Country did raise a suflS- 
cient Force for the effectual proceeding against the Indian Enemy, 
he did, contrary to all Equity and Justice and the tenors of his com- 
mission, endeavour to oppose the said Forces by himself and the 
Assembly sett forth : of which attempts being severall tymes defeated 
by the Peoples abhorrence of soe Bloody a design he left the country 
in a small vessell, it being unknown to all People to what parts of 
the world he did repair, and whereas as our army upon his departure 
betaking themselves to the care of the Frontiers did march out 
against the Indians and obtain soe great a victory, as hath in a man- 
ner finished all the disaster and almost Resettled the country in a 
happy Peace, yet notwithstanding Sir Wm. Berkeley with Forces 

1 For recent excavations on the site of old Jamestown, see Samuel H. Yonge, 
Site of Old "James Towne," 1607-1698, enlarged edition (Richmond, 1907) . James- 
town was destroyed September 19, 1676. Lawrence, the first to act, set fire to 
his own house "with all its welth and a faire cupbord of plate"; Bacon with his 
own hand set fire to the church, the first there built. Other houses and goods 
burned belonged to Colonel Thomas Swann, Major Theophilus Hone, and Wil- 
liam Sherwood. Berkeley in his "Vindication" mentions houses of his own 
burned at Jamestown. A number of the houses destroyed were unoccupied at 
the time. 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 137 

raised in Accomack, did invade the country with acts of hostihty, 
with all intentions to persecute the said Army with these aforsaid 
reasons, as also having betray 'd his Trust to the king by flying from 
his seate of Judicature, and acting wholly contrary to his comis- 
sion, We protest against him unanimously as a Tray tor and most 
pernitious Enemy to the Publick, and further we sweare that in all 
places of his Majestyes Colony of Virginia wee will oppose and prose- 
cute him with all our Endeavours by all acts of hostility as occasion 
shall present, and further whereas Plotting and wishing in his heart 
a totall Ruine and Destruction of this Poore colony he hath Endeav- 
oured to set the heart of our Soveraigne against us by false Informa- 
tion and Lyes, requesting Forces of his Majestic wherewith to com- 
pell and subdue us, hindering, intercepting and preventing all our 
Remonstrances for Peace, which might have gone home in our 
Justification, as also hindering of our sending home of agents in the 
Peoples behalf which was the most humble and earnest request of 
the People at first, We doe further declare and sweare that wee 
think it absolutely consisting with our allegiance and Loyalty to 
treat with and discourse with the said Forces and commissioners 
with all submission to his Majesty. But otherwise if it shall soe 
prove that notwithstanding all intreaties and offers wee shall make, 
they shall offer to land by Force, in our owne Defense to fly together 
as in a common calamity and jointly with the present army now 
under the command of General Bacon, to stand or fall in the Defense 
of him and the country in soe just a cause, and in all places to oppose 
their Proceedings (onely untill such time as his Majesty by our 
agents shall fully understand the miserable case of the country, and 
the Justice of our Proceedings) Which most just request if they shall 
refuse and by force endeavour to enter the country, wee are resolv'd 
to uphold the country as long as we can and never to absent and 
joyne with any such army whatever, and lastly in case of utmost 
extremity rather than submit to any soe miserable a slavery (when 
none can longer defend ourselves, our lives and Liberties) to acquit 
the colony rather than submitt to soe unheard of Injustice, and this 
wee all sweare in the presence of Almighty God as unfeignedly and 
freely as ever wee desire of him for happiness to come. 

By the General. 

The Governor and his Forces being gone Bacon orders the 
shore to be Guarded all along to observe their motions, and as 
they moved to follow them and prevent them from landing, or 
having any provisions sent on board them. 

Bacon now begins to show a more mercelesse severity and 



138 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1676 

absolute authoity than formerly, Plundering and imprisoning 
many and condemning some by power of martial law."^ 

But among all made onely one exemplary (to witt) one 
James Wilkenson that had fled from his CoUours, who (with 
one Mr. Clough^ Minister of James Towne) was condemned 
to dye, but the first onely was executed; which (as a soldier) 
wee look on to be more an act of his Policy than cruelty, to 
prevent and awe others from disserting him, wee not observing 
him to have bin Bloodely inclined in the whole progresse of 
this Rebellion. 

Intercession being made for Mr. Clough Captain Hawkins' 
and Major West,"* Bacon purposed to accept of Bland, Carver 
and Farloe^ in exchange for them, neverthelesse none of the 
first three were put to death by Bacon. 

Now Bacon finding that his Soldiers Insolences growing soe 
great and intolerable to the People (of whom they made noe 
due distinction) and finding their actings to reflect on himself, 
he did not onely betake himself to a strict Discipline over his 
men but also to more moderate courses himself, Releasing some 
Prisoners, Pardoning others that were condemned, and calling 
those to account against whom any complaints came for sei- 
sures or Plundering their Estates without his order or knowl- 
edge. 

This Prosperous Rebell, concluding now the day his owne, 
marcheth with his army into Gloster County, intending to 
visit all the northern part of Virginia to understand the state 
of them and to settle affairs after his own measures, in which 
(wee are informed) he proposed this method. 

1. One committee for settling the south side of James River 
and inquiring into the spoiles that had been comitted there. 

* Nearly all those executed for participation in the rebellion were condemned 
by courts martial, though in a few cases trials seem to have been held before a 
court of oyer and terminer. 

2 The Rev. John Clough, minister of Jamestown and afterward of South- 
wick parish, Surry, was an active supporter of Berkeley. He died January 15, 
1684, and his tombstone is still in the churchyard. 

2 Thomas Hawkins, jr., of Rappahannock. 

* Captain John West of New Kent. 

^ George Farlow, "one of Cromwell's soldiers, very active in this rebellion, 
and taken with forty men coming to surprise me at Accomack." (Berkeley's 
report.) 



1676] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 139 

2. Another committee to be always with the Army, to in- 
quire into the cause of all seisures, and to give orders for doing 
the same, and to regulate the rudenesse, disorder, spoile and 
waste of the soldiers, as they had formerly comitted. 

3. And another committee to be appointed onely for the 
management and proceding for the Indian warr and giving 
Dispatches for affairs relating to it. 

But before he could arrive to the Perfection of his designes 
(w'ch none but the eye of omniscience could Penetrate) Provi- 
dence did that which noe other hand durst (or at least did) 
doe and cut him off. 

Hee lay sick at one Mr. Pates in Gloster County of the 
Bloody Flux, and (as Mr. Pate himself affirms) accompanyed 
with a Lousey Disease; so that the swarmes of Vermyn that 
bred in his Body he could not destroy but by throwing his 
shirts into the Fire as often as he shifted himself. 

Hee dyed much dissatisfied in minde inquiring ever and 
anon after the arrival of the Friggats and Forces from 
England,^ and asking if his Guards were strong about the 
House. 

After Bacon's Death one Joseph Ingram a stranger in Vir- 
ginia and came over but the year before this Rebellion, under 
whose conduct the Faction began to fall into several parties 
and opinions, which gave Sir Wm. Berkely's party opportunity 
by these divisions to surprise the Rebels in small Bodyes as 
they sculked up and down the country. 

But the maine service that was done for the reducing the 
Rebells to their obedience was done by the Seamen and com- 

* Bacon's anxiety regarding the forces from England was in part due to the 
terms of the oath of August 3 (p. 60) and in part to his determination to re- 
sist the British troops when they came. Mr. Bruce quotes Thomas Ludwell as 
saying that "Bacon and his followers had formed 'vain hopes of taking the coun- 
try wholly out of his Majesty's hands into their own'" (Inst. Hist, II. 281-282), 
and there is reason to think that the malcontents of Virginia, Maryland, and 
Albemarle were in collusion to drive out the governors and to set up popular 
governors of their own. This determination was the subject of a dialogue 
reported by John Coode of Maryland (p. 313, note 1) as having taken place be- 
tween himself and Bacon, September 2, 1676 {Cal. St. P. Col., 1677-1680, § 27), 
and we know that Albemarle men were in Jamestown and that letters were ex- 
changed between the two colonies (p. 145; Colonial Records of North Carolina, 
I. 317). 



140 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1677 

manders of Shipps then^ riding in the Rivers especially the 
Generall Surrender at Wests Point of those headed by Ingram 
and Wacklute,^ w'ch was managed and concluded by Capt. 
Grantham,^ to the disgust of those Gentlemen of the Gover- 
nor's Party, because Sir Wm. Berkeley had not made them con- 
cerned in soe considerable a Piece of Service. 

After Ingram had submitted to the Governor (who lay then 
on Board Martyn's Ship in Yorke River), Laurance that no- 
torious Rebell fled, who was the first man that sett fire to James 
Towne by burning his owne house, some others were taken 
Prisoners after they had lay'd downe their armes, and the rest 
went home in Peace. About the 16th of January, 1676-7, the 
whole country had submitted to the Governour and the two 
and twentyeth hee came home to his house at Greene Spring, 
and had issued out new writts of summons for the convening 
of a free assembly at his owne house, the State house being 
ruined with the rest of James Towne. 

The Particulars of this foregoing Narrative being what wee 
could collect or observe from the most credible disinterest'd 
Persons, most authentique Papers, Records, Reports and the 
Publick Grievances of the respective countyes of Virginia, wee 
have, with all integrity of mind and the best of our under- 
standing, without favor or partialty, selected and sett downe 
what wee thought most consonant to Truth and Reality, and 

* The share taken by the captains of merchant vessels at this time in Vir- 
ginia in helping to suppress the rebellion became the subject of a special inquiry 
before the Privy Council in 1679. The English commissioners had reported 
"that the main service for reducing the rebels to their obedience was done by the 
seamen and commanders of ships then riding in the rivers," particularly Captains 
Morriss, Consett, Grantham, Prinne, and Gardner. The Privy Council recom- 
mended to the Admiralty that these captains should be reimbursed for what they 
had spent, should be granted rewards, and should be selected for employment 
in the navy (see also Cal. St. P. Col, 1674-1676, § 1035). 

* Governor Notley of Maryland spoke of Lawrence Ingram as the "titular 
general, who succeeded Bacon," and of Walklett as "his lieutenant general." 
After the rebellion was suppressed in January, 1677, Walklett offered to come to 
Gloucester with a good troop of horse and arms. Captain Grantham encour- 
aged him to do so, and advised him to "declare for the King's Majesty, the gov- 
ernor, and country," promising to assist him. Berkeley offered him both par- 
don and plunder. Though there is no direct evidence to show that Walklett 
accepted these offers, it is probable that he did so. 

' For his service Captain Grantham was given a reward of ;^200. 



1677] NARRATIVE OF THE COMMISSIONERS 141 

on the other hand rejected whatever wee found or suspected 
to be false or improbable. And doe here according to his 
Majestye's Royall commands and our own Dutyes most 
humbly leave it to his Majestye's most Prudent consideration 
and Judgement. 

John Berry, 
Francis Moryson. 



NARRATIVES OF THOMAS MILLER, SIR PETER 
COLLETON, AND THE CAROLINA PROPRI- 
ETORS, 1680 



INTRODUCTION 

Albemarle County, North Carolina, the scene of one of 
the minor uprisings of this period, is some sixty or seventy 
miles below the mouth of the James River. Probably a land 
trail ran along the route afterward followed by the highway 
from Jamestown to Edenton, but in the seventeenth century, 
because of swamps and hostile Indian tribes, the region be- 
tween the two colonies was difficult of passage and com- 
munication was largely by water. However, as this highway 
crossed Nansemond County, the seat of one of the insurgent 
movements in Virginia after Bacon's death, which was sup- 
pressed in January, 1677, and as the uprising in Pasquotank 
district, Albemarle, broke out the following December, it is 
difficult not to see a connection between the two events. 
Men from Albemarle had been in communication with William 
Drummond, and we know that John Culpeper, one of the 
leaders of the Albemarle movement, was at Jamestown in May, 
1676. There is reason to believe, also, that Bacon had had 
negotiations with the discontented representatives of both 
Carolina and Maryland and that some sort of an understand- 
ing had been reached regarding action against the governors 
of the three colonies. Albemarle was known as " a subterfuge 
to the late rebels, traitors, and deserters of Virginia (as it hath 
been and still is [1677])," and Governor Culpeper of Virginia 
in 1681 called it " the refuge of our renegades." This northern 
region of Carolina, which at that time contained about a thou- 
sand white taxable inhabitants, remained in an unsettled con- 
dition for many years, and in 1702 Robert Quary reported that 
the people were "uneasy and discontented," that there was 

145 



146 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

"no settled militia nor any foundation of government/' and 
that "the proprietors have taken no notice of them for above 
seven years past." 

The trade of the colony was in provisions and tobacco, the 
latter of which was taken off by New Englanders, whose light 
craft could pass the shoals and sand-bars shutting in Albemarle 
Sound, and carried to Boston, Salem, Gloucester, or New- 
foundland, whence it was in part transshipped to English or 
European ports. Very little North Carolina tobacco was taken 
to England by any one except New Englanders, for English 
merchant ships were too large to enter through Roanoke Chan- 
nel, and export by way of Virginia was forbidden by Virginia 
law. According to the parliamentary act of 1672, tobacco not 
shipped directly to England was to pay at the port of clearance 
a duty of a penny a pound, the plantation duty, and because 
of the continued ignoring of this act by the colonies in general, 
a royal proclamation was issued in 1675, and stringent in- 
structions were sent to the governors to enforce the act. The 
situation in Albemarle was made somewhat more serious than 
in other southern colonies because of the known fondness of 
the New Englanders for illicit trading. 

As one of the results of the more rigorous policy of the 
home government in 1675 and the years that followed, the 
Lords Proprietors of Carolina despatched to the colony in 1676 
a new governor, Thomas Eastchurch, and the commissioners 
of the customs sent a collector, Thomas Miller. Attempts by 
Miller to enforce the act and to control the New England trade 
were the immediate causes of the revolt, in which New England 
ship-captains took a prominent part. There were probably 
other causes, for the proprietors asserted that Miller, who, 
having left Eastchurch at Bermuda, came to Albemarle with 
powers as governor and commander-in-chief, "did many ex- 
travagant things, making strange limitations for the choice of 
the parliament, getting power in his hands for laying fines, 



INTRODUCTION 147 

which 'tis to be feared he neither did nor meant to use moder- 
ately, sending out strange warrants to bring some of the most 
considerable men of the country, alive or dead, before him, 
setting a sum of money upon their heads." Behind the rage 
stirred by these actions may have lain a deeper desire for in- 
dependence of all English control, either royal or proprietary. 

The narratives here printed are to be found among the 
Colonial Office Papers in the Public Record Office, London, 
having been originally prepared for the use of the Lords of 
Trade in the trial of John Culpeper for high treason. Their 
present location is in Colonial Ofice, class 1, vol. 44, nos. 20 (iv), 
22 (i), and vol. 45, no. 79. With other papers bearing on the 
movement, they have been printed in the Colonial Records of 
North Carolina, I. 228-333, 350-352, the pages of the three 
documents in question being 278-283, 286-289, and 326-328. 

Thomas Miller was an apothecary of Albemarle County, 
who in November, 1673, had been charged with uttering words 
of blasphemy and treason. He was tried before Governor 
Berkeley and council at Jamestown and acquitted. Immedi- 
ately he sailed for England where he obtained his appointment 
as collector, November 16, 1676. With Eastchurch, the pro- 
prietary governor, he returned in 1677, reaching Bermuda some 
time before May 20. There Eastchurch dallied, sending Miller 
ahead with powers that the proprietaries afterward declared 
were illegal. Miller sailed from Bermuda for Albemarle May 
20, arriving July 9, and immediately began to exercise the 
functions of acting governor and collector. 

On December 3 the rebellion broke out. Miller and others 
were seized and imprisoned, he being confined finally in a log 
house up the Pasquotank River. Escaping in August, 1679, 
he reached England in December and at once brought suit 
against Culpeper and Gillam (below, p. 151), both of whom 
were, at that time, in England. Gillam was never brought to 
trial, and Culpeper, although at first declared guilty of treason 



148 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

by the Privy Council, was eventually acquitted, largely through 
the influence of the Earl of Shaftesbury, one of the proprietors 
of Carolina, who stated that Miller's actions were without 
legal warrant. 

During 1679 and 1680 Miller lived on the bounty of the 
Treasury and his fees as witness. The Treasury allowances 
were charged up against the customs account, for Miller was 
still collector, with Robert Holden deputy in Albemarle. 
But he soon after lost the collectorship, and all his efforts to 
obtain its renewal or to secure further employment from the 
proprietaries or the cormnissioners of customs failed. The 
cause may have been his bad habits, for he was known to be a 
hard drinker. 



NARRATIVES OF THOMAS MILLER, SIR PETER 
COLLETON, AND THE CAROLINA PROPRI- 
ETORS, 1680 

Affidavit of Thomas Miller concerning the Rebellion of Carolina. 

The affidavit of Tho. Miller aged 31 years or thereabouts 
saith — That in or about the middle of July 1677 hee arrived 
in Albemarle County in Carolina with Sundry Commissions 
Instructions and other Instruments of writing from the Right 
Hon'ble the Lords Prop'rs of the sd Province under their 
Lor'ps handes and seales for this deponent to be Register (w'ch 
then was in the stead of Secretary) of that County aforesaid 
and also to personate one of their Lor'ps in Councill there and 
other Commissions and Instruments of writing from the then 
Gov'r vid.^ Thom. Eastchurch Esqr,^ for this deponent to pre- 
side in Councill and to bee Command'r of the military forces 
of sd County afores'd during his the sd Gov'rs absence and 
also a Commission from the hon'ble the Commiss'rs of his 
Majestyes Customes for this deponent to bee Collector there 
with sundry Instructions to act by. In pursuance whereof, 
after having (by the advice of the then Councill there) setled 
the Lords Prop'rs affaires relating to their governm't, reduced 
the Indians, who the year before (as was manifested to the 
deponent) vid., in 76 had committed sundry murders and dep- 

^ Videlicet, to wit. 

2 Thomas Eastchurch had been speaker of the House of Commons in 
Albemarle. Going to London in 1676, he was appointed governor by the Lords 
Proprietors November 21 of that year. Having lingered in England until the 
following March or April, he sailed for Albemarle with Miller, but for reasons 
stated in the text remained in Bermuda until late autumn, when he went to 
Virginia instead of to Albemarle. There he issued a proclamation against the 
insurgents in North Carolina and endeavored to enlist the support of the English 
soldiers and of volunteers in Virginia for the purpose of putting down the re- 
bellion. While engaged in this undertaking he died of fever, five weeks after 
his arrival. 

149 



150 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1677 

redations upon some of the inhabitants, and had brought 
the people, who in the sd year of 76 (as did appear to the de- 
ponent) and then also were in a miserable confusion by reason 
of Sundry factions amongst them, to a reasonable good con- 
formity to his Majestyes and the Lords Prop'rs Laws and au- 
thority and (as then seemed) to the generall satisfaction of the 
inhabitants. The deponent then setled his Majestyes affaires 
in reference to the Customes and for the better managing and 
collecting the same had appointed deputyes and other sub 
officers^ in each precynct, And had together with his sd Depu- 
tyes gotten into their hands (for his Maj'tyes use) from the 
former Collector appointed by the Country and part received 
themselfes as much of the Kings Concerns in bonds for tobbacco 
and tobbacco received as amounted in the whole to 327068 
pounds w'ch in hogsheads allowing 400 pounds to one hogs- 
head comes to about 817 hogsheads as by account will appear, 
and in sundry other bonds for money, as also in severall sei- 
zures of European goods judged illegally imported and of a 
vessell called the Patience for importing some of the sd goods 
made by him and his deputy and in goods received in lieu of 
tobbacco for the Kings Customes as amounted to the value 
of 1242^ 18s. Old. sterling, as by account will also appear, the 
product and effect whereof (his salary excepted) hee had taken 
care for transportation that very year, according to the hon'ble 
the Commiss'rs of the Customs Orders, as will partly appear 
by Mr Henry Hudson^ and Mr Tymothy Biggs,^ but was 
hindred therefrom by reason of an Insurrection and (as the 

1 Summers's petition to the Treasury throws light on Miller's method of 
enforcing the navigation act. From July 9 to December 4, Summers and his 
men were employed by Miller to prevent frauds, their duty being "to attend the 
new inlet of the said county, from whence petitioner brought up sundry New 
England vessels coming thither to trade, in order to their fair entry with the said 
collector." For this service he claimed to be out of purse £84, and "so has 
suffered damage and prejudice to himself and family." 

2 Henry Hudson was Miller's deputy in Currituck precinct and was one 
of the witnesses against Culpeper at his trial in England. 

3 Captain Timothy Biggs had been in Charleston in 1672 but later went 
to Albemarle. In 1676 he was appointed deputy to the Earl of Craven and 
received the post of deputy collector under Miller, with an office at Little River 
Point. Later, September 28, 1678, he was made comptroller and surveyor- 
general of customs in Albemarle, "where no surveyor hath been yet established." 
Under the administration of Governor Harvey, 1679, he retired with a num- 
ber of other Quakers to Virginia. 



1677] INSURRECTION IN NORTH CAROLINA 151 

deponent humbly conceives) a rebellion which violently broke 
out in that Country lOber^ 77 and hath to this day continued 
without any effectuall restraint and suppression, notwith- 
standing all the endeav'rs of the Lords Prop'rs in commis- 
sionating and appointing Seth SotheP Esq'r to be Gov'r and 
to reduce the same, w'ch was contrived and carried on then and 
since by Richard Foster, John Jenkins,' George Durant,'* John 
Willoughby,^ Wm. Craford,^ Patricke White, James Blunt, 
Capt. Zach. Gillam,' John Culpeper,^ with other their Con- 

* December. ^ For Sothell, see below, p. 160. 

3 Lieutenant-Colonel John Jenkins as president of the council was acting 
governor of the colony in 1676. For reasons not clearly stated, he was thrust 
out of his place and imprisoned by the assembly in the same year. There seems 
to have been no acting governor of the colony from that time (May, 1676) until 
the arrival of Miller (July, 1677), who according to the proprietors had no legal 
right to exercise the functions of governor. Shaftesbury was, therefore, justified 
in saying that there was no settled government in the colony until the arrival 
of Harvey in August, 1679. 

* George Durant, whose house was the rendezvous of the insurgents, was 
one of the most influential planters in Albemarle County. He had extensive 
dealings with the New Englanders and was one of the chief instigators of the 
rebellion. While in England in 1677 he told the Lords Proprietors that East- 
church never should be governor. Arriving in the colony about December 1, 
1677, in the Carolina, with Captain Gillam, he set on foot the insurrection that 
broke out two days afterward. 

^ Captain John Willoughby, who had got into trouble with Eastchurch and 
been summoned before the palatine court, refused to attend; and having been 
declared guilty of contempt, fled to Virginia. 

6 The house of William Crawford, on Albemarle Sound, was a meeting-place 
of the insurgents, and there Miller was confined immediately after his seizure. 

"> Captain Zachariah Gillam, "old Zach," as he was called, lends picturesque- 
ness to the story of the revolt. He was the son of Benjamin Gillam, who, with 
an elder son Benjamin, constituted the mercantile firm of Gillam and Company, 
a prominent trading house in Boston. In 1668 Zachariah co-operated with 
Radisson and GroseilHers in the opening of Hudson Bay to trade and was a 
factor in the founding of the Hudson's Bay Company (May 2, 1670). He re- 
mained in the service of the company until 1674 and then returned to his former 
trading activities, going to Albemarle for tobacco in 1676, 1677, and 1678. With 
him was his son Benjamin, a lad but foiu-teen years old. In 1682 Zachariah 
was again in Hudson Bay and was drowned there, in Nelson River, in 1683. His 
son, who was there at the same time on an interloping expedition, was captured 
by Radisson, who had returned to the French interests, but afterward was re- 
leased and went back to Boston. He is not to be identified with the pirate 
James Gillam. 

* John Culpeper went from Barbadoes to Charleston in March, 1671. There 
he was appointed surveyor and surveyor-general. He was deemed "a very able 
artist," and proved his ability by making maps of Ashley River, "the Lords 



152 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1677 

federates and New England traders, w'ch Culpeper (by the 
encouragement and aid of the sd Gillam and the rest of their 
adherents) assuming the title and office of his Maj'tyes Col- 
lector violently seized the premises out of his and his deputyes 
hands, most cruelly imprisoning them, and disposed of the King 
concerns according to their own will and pleasure, overthrow- 
ing the governm't, imprisoning all or most in authority and 
office besides and committing sundry other outrages upon all 
other the inhabitants that would not joyne with them in these 
exorbitancyes committed in this Insurrection, w'ch was begun 
and carried on after this manner following : Upon the 4th day 
of lOber 1677 and 3 dayes after Capt. Zach. Gillam's arrivall 
there, a parcell of men to the number of 30 or 40 of the precinct 
of Pasquotank in the aforesd County, being set on by the fores'd 
Culpeper, Craford, and encouraged by the example (w'ch 2 
of the Lords Prop'rs Deputyes complayned of to this Deponent) 
as well as assistance with armes of the sd Gillam, and headed 
by one Valentine Bird^ and Edward Wells, did without mak- 
ing any addresse, complaint, or information to the deponent 
or any else in authority, and without any lawfull warrant or 
order, with force and arms vid. swords, guns, and pistolls, vio- 
lently rush into the house where the deponent and 2 more of 

Proprietors Plantations," etc. In 1672 he was chosen a member of the assembly, 
but his natural disposition led him to take part in an uprising, and he only- 
escaped hanging for endeavoring "to set the poor to plunder the rich" by fleeing 
to Albemarle. He was a restless, discontented colonist, and seems to have been 
concerned in factious movements elsewhere than in Charleston and Albemarle. 
He was in Jamestown in May, 1676, and after the Albemarle revolt went to 
New England in Benjamin Gillam's ship. Thence he sailed for England, prob- 
ably in 1679, where, as has already been stated, he was tried for treason and 
acquitted. Of his Hfe in New England nothing is known, but a "representation" 
presented to the proprietors speaks of his plotting there "with some of the dis- 
contented traders." (Colonial Records of North Carolina, I. 259.) 

1 Valentine Byrd was a man of wealth and influence in the colony, having 
filled the office of collector before Miller's arrival. There is, however, no record 
of his having been commissioned by the Treasury, just as there is no evidence 
that Copley and Birch, who were commissioned in 1674, ever actually served. 
It would appear, therefore, that Miller was the first regular appointee that held 
the office of collector. This fact may account for the looseness with which the 
parliamentary act of 1672 was observed and for the passage by the assembly 
of an act authorizing Byrd to take a farthing instead of a penny as plantation 
duty. It is said that Byrd allowed much tobacco to leave the colony as "bait 
for New England fishermen." 



1677] INSURRECTION IN NORTH CAROLINA 153 

the Lords Prop'rs Deputyes were present and seized us as their 
prisoners and then went to searching over the pubHque records 
and other of the deponents writings, w'ch the sd party had 
brought with them, having the day before violently entred one 
Mr Tymothy Biggs his house, and there breaking open sundry 
the deponents locks, seized the said Records and whatever 
other of the deponents writings were then to bee found, having 
also in this action sent abroad up and down the Country their 
seditious libells drawn by the sd Culpeper to put all in a flame, 
and on the sd 4th of lOber a little after the deponent and the 
other 2 Deputyes afores'd were seized their prisoners, some of 
the ringleaders vid. Bird, Craford, Wells, and others went on 
board the sd Gillam's shipp (w'ch in all these confusions rid 
with Jack, Ensign, Flag and Penon^ flying while wee were 
prison'rs at Pasquotanck) where on board there was the sd 
Gillam the afores'd Culpeper and Durant and after about one 
houres or thereaboutes staying on board they came ashoar 
again with fresh new Curtleaxes^ for themselves and many of 
the rest of their gang and then altering their first pretences they 
searched the deponents and his deputy Mr Biggs pockets and 
took away all our publique and private writings and pocket 
books w'ch they found about us and then the sd Culpeper 
writt another seditious letter w 'ch the deponent saw and w'ch 
was signed by the afores'd Bird and Craford directed to the 
afores'd Mr Foster in the Lower Precinct of that County called 
Corrituck, giving him account of what they had done and how 
they succeeded and withall requiring or directing him there 
to seize Henry Hudson my deputy Collector for that precinct 
and all papers about him relating to the Kings affaires and to 
bring him prison'r with him and his Company at the Generall 
Meeting which they proposed to bee at the fores'd George 
Durant's house, and about 2 days after the said Culpeper went 
up into the Upper parts of the County called Chowan (as was 
given out by himselfe and the rabble) where the like distur- 

1 The jack, or union jack, was the chief official naval flag of Great Britain, 
bearing on a blue ground the red cross of St. George, superimposed on the white 
cross of St. Andrew. The ensign was a large red, white, or blue flag, bearing 
in the upper corner next the staff a "canton" of white with the red cross of St. 
George. 

^ Curtal-axes, cutlasses. 



154 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1678 

bance was begun and more violently agitated by the sd Cul- 
peper and where they had seized the Marshall of the County 
with all his papers relating to his Maj'tys and Lords Prop'rs 
affaires, and then after that the sd Culpeper returned and in 
his return seized the deponents Clerk a prisoner, and a little 
after the sd Culpepers return there followed a party of men in 
arms from that precinct of Chowan bringing the sd Marshall 
with them a prisoner. Their main guard then at the fores'd 
Craford's house w'ch was forced in at Pascotank. Then (after 
some 14 or 15 dayes keeping the deponent and the other Lords 
deputys which they had taken close prisoners) the said Craford 
vowing and swearing that if any came to oppose them or re- 
lieve us that they would stand by each other to the last dropp 
of blood and that if any dyed to bee sure wee that were their 
prison'rs to dy first, They carried this deponent and their 
other prison'rs round by water in hostile manner to the fores'd 
Durant's house and there in the middle of a guard of 60 or 
70 men in arms kept us close from all humane converse or 
accesse of friends, neither would they admitt us the speech 
of one another. The next day after our being brought to Du- 
rant's as afores'd they sent a party of soldiers headed by the 
af ores' d Mr Bird to search for the deponent's box wherein 
was all his Commissions, Instructions, his Maj'tys printed 
Proclamations, and letter, and all other bills, bonds, accounts, 
and other papers relating to the King's, the Lords Prop'rs, the 
former Gov'rs and this deponent, together with the Lords' 
great seal of the County and many other books and things of 
value, w'ch box the sd party soon found (though hid in a tob- 
bacco hogshead) and carried it to the sd Durants house where 
in presence of the said Culpeper, Craford, Durant, and the 
rest of the Ringleaders then met, it was broken open and all 
things therein contained Havocked at their pleasure as the 
deponent saw openly and then afterwards on the very same day, 
by the instigation of the said Culpeper (who was the cheife 
scribe that writt the paper or accusation), Craford, Bird, Du- 
rant, and others, they did cause the depon't by beat of Drum 
and a shout of one and all of the rabble to bee accused of blas- 
phemy, treason and other crimes, and so, upon a shout of one 
and all of the sd rabble, was the deponent ordered to bee clapt 
in Irons, w'ch was accordingly done. Then were the stocks 



1678] INSURRECTION IN NORTH CAROLINA 155 

and pillory overturned and throwne into the river by this 
rabble, part of the deponents magazine and estate in whatever 
specie, wherever to bee found, Havocked at their pleasure, 
and the rabble being still influenced by the sd Culpeper, Craf- 
ord, Durant, Jenkins, etc. (the fores'd Gillam being alsoe there 
countenancing this rout with his drink and presence) they up- 
braided his Maj'tys proclamations and L'ds Prop'rs authority, 
and there Lordshipps much threatened also by the sd Cul- 
peper, Durant, Craford. Especially the said Craford said 
(which this deponent heard with his owne ears) that if the 
Gov'r came among them there, or the Lords either, they would 
serve them the same sauce, or words to that purpose, and at 
this stand the rabble stood (onely still sending out scouts and 
partyes, either to threaten, seize, disarm, imprison or chase out 
of the Country all in authority or office or any else that would 
not Joyn with them) till about 4 or 5 days after up came the 
afores'd Foster with his party from the Lower precinct called 
Carituck, bringing with them as their prisoner the afores'd 
Mr Henry Hudson, Dep'ty Collector for his Maj'tye there, 
upon whose coming they suddenly elected a parliament out 
of this medley as a confused rabble (making their drummer 
one of the burgesses) consisting of about 18 persons. This par- 
liam't seperated 5 of the members vid: the fors'd Jenkins, 
Blunt, Craford, White and Bird (since deceased), to Joyne 
with the afors'd Foster to make up one Juncto or Court, and 
this Court so called took upon them Judiciall authority and 
sate as the supream Court upon 2 of the L'ds Prop'rs deputyes 
vid: Capt Tymothy Biggs, deputy for the right hon'rble the 
Earle of Craven, whom they accused of murder, and Mr John 
Nixon Deputy to Sir Peter Colleton, whom they also accused 
of treason, and then brought the deponent before them in 
Irons, pulling of his hat, and then upon him impanelled a 
Jury (as they called it) out of this rabble, the foreman whereof 
was one Mordslay Bouden, a New England trader and one 
much indebted to his Majesty, the rest scarce 4 of them could 
read or write, and this Jury without any law or statute with 
them were sent out with such articles and Inditements as 
John Culpeper, their Cheif Councillour and scribe, and George 
Durant, their Atturney generall, had contrived ag'st the de- 
ponent w'ch Jury quickly returned again with what the sd 



156 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1678 

Culpeper had ordered him to do, as the foreman openly blurted 
out in their Court, and upon this they ordered their sheriffe 
to impannell a petty Jury, who being stark drunk as the de- 
ponent himself saw, went about summoning of them hee in- 
tended should have been the Jurors on the deponents life, 
who were both scandalous, infamous, and illiterate persons 
and were resolved then (as the deponent conceives) to have 
taken away his life, for little else could the deponent hear from 
them but the threats, vows, ^,nd bloody oathes of stabbing, 
hanging, pistolling, or poysonirig; but notwithstanding all this 
was then prevented by the coming in of the Governr's procla- 
mation, which hee from Virginia (being there arrived some 8 
or 9 dayes before) at the very nick of tyme sent in, although 
it was by the sd Culpeper corruptly abbreviated and tran- 
scribed and so by him published to the rabble, the originall 
(w'ch was under the sd Gov'rs hand and scale) not suffered to 
bee seen or published to the Inhabitants, and then they took 
order and sent a guard of the soldiers to oppose the Gov'r 
coming in and to dispose of the Kings Concernes, making the 
sd Culpeper Collector, and to committ the deponent close 
prisoner in Irons as hee was and the rest yer the authority also 
prisoners to severall places apart. The fors'd Court and Parlia- 
m't broke of for that tyme and went to their homes, and there- 
upon immediately as some were going in their way they were 
highly entertained by the sd Gillam on board his shipp, the 
sd Gillam very joyfully fireing of severall great guns to accom- 
modate the frolick. Amongst the rest the deponent saw the 
sd Foster, Craford, Culpeper with the sd Gillam in a boat 
together going on board the sd Gillam's shipp, and suddaenly 
after this the sd Gillam (when hee saw what was done about 
the governor) opened store and traded with the Insurrectors 
chiefly ; and further the deponent saith that the Gov'r af ores'd 
was kept out till hee dyed in Virginia, w'ch was about 4 or 5 
weeks after, upon whose death the sd Insurrectors called the 
parliament again, but now to bee held at one Jenkins his house, 
where was present also Capt. Zach. Gillam among them, to- 
gether with the sd Culpeper, George Durant, John Willoughby, 
Richard Foster, James Blunt, Wm. Craford and the rest, where 
(as it after appeared by the manifestation of their actions) it 
was by them decreed, to build a Loghouse 10 or 11 foot square 



1677] INSURRECTION IN NORTH CAROLINA 157 

to inclose the deponent and to keep him from pen, ink, and 
paper and all accesse of friendes, and then to supervise the 
Records and the deponents papers w'ch they had in custody 
embezeling what they pleased of them and then to send 2 
Agents, as they called them, to England, and one forthwith, 
by reason Capt. Tym. Biggs, Deputy for the Earle of Craven, 
had made an escape for England, w'ch agent (as the sd Cra- 
ford and others informed the deponent) was credited by the 
sd Capt. Gillam with money by bills of exchange to carry on 
the businesse till hee came home with George Durant, the 
other Agent, whom hee then carryed with him; and in the 
mean tyrae to put their Country in a military posture, to op- 
pose all till the return of the agents afores'd, and thus affaires 
have been carryed on, to the great damage of his Maj'ty, the 
Lords Prop'rs, and sundry of his Majestyes Leige subjects 
both there and in the neighbouring Plantations, by reason 
sundry fugitives have been entertained among the AJbemarle 
Insurrectors etc. And further saith not. 

Tho: Miller. 
1679-80 
Jur:*31. die Januar 1679 
coram^ 

W. MOUNTAGU. 

The Case between Thomas Miller Collector of His Mafts Cus- 
tomes and Capt. Zachariah Gilham, Culpeper, Durant, 
Craford and others, principal Autors and Actors in the late 
Commotion and Disturbances that were in the Northern Part 
of the Province of Carolina. 

Mr Cartwright^ (who was related to Mr Vice Chamber- 
laine, one of the Proprietors) being Governor of the Northern 
part of Carolina and being returned for England and having 
left the Governm't there in ill order and worse hands, the 
Proprietors resolved to send another Governor and such a one, 

^ For juratum, sworn to. ^ In the presence of. 

' Peter Carteret (a kinsman of the vice-chamberlain, Sir George Carteret, 
one of the Lords Proprietors) came to the colony in 1664. On the death of Samuel 
Stephens in 1669, he was commissioned governor and served until May, 1673, 
when he left the colony, and was succeeded by Jenkins, president of the council. 



158 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1677 

if they could be fortunate in their choyce, as would put in 
execution their Instructions orders and designes, The former 
Governor having very much failed them especially in 2 poynts — 
The first was the incouraging of the New England Trade there 
— The 2d was their discouraging the planting on the south 
side of the river Albemarle, The latter was extreamely the 
interest of the Proprietors, but crost allwayes by the Governors 
and some of the cheife of the Country, who had ingrosit the 
Indian trade to themselves and feared that it would be inter- 
cepted by those that should plant farther amongst them. 
The illness of the harbours was the cause that this Northern 
part of Carolina had no other vent for their Comodityes but 
either by Virginia, where they paid dutyes to the Govemm't, 
or to New England, who were the onely imediate Traders with 
them; And ventur'd in, in small Vessells, and had soe man- 
adg'd their affayres that they brought their goods att very 
lowe rates, eate out and ruin'd the place, defrauded the King 
of his Customes and yet govern'd the people ag't their owne 
Interest. To cure those evills the Prop'rs made choyce of one 
Mr Eastchurch to be their Governor, a Gent'n of a good fame 
and related to the Lord Trea'r Clifford,^ who had recom- 
mended him to the Prop'rs formerly for that place and had 
the promise of severall of us. In Summer 1677 we dispatched 
away the sd Mr Eastchurch, together with Mr Miller, who 
was the Kings oflficer and made by us one of our Deputyes. It 
happened soe that they went not directly for Virginia, but took 
their passage in a ship bound for Nevis,^ where Mr Eastchurch, 
lighting upon a woman that was a considerable fortune, took 
hold of the oppertunity, marryed her, and dispatched away 
Mr Miller for Carolina to settle affayres against his comeing, 
who carryed with him the Conamission of the Lds Prop'rs to 
their Deputyes and Commission from Mr Eastchurch himself 
that made Miller Presid't of the Councill untill his arrival and 

^ Lord CliflFord, lord high treasurer 1672-1673, had died in the latter year. 

' It has been commonly assumed that Eastchurch found his wife in Nevis, 
but Solomon Summers says in his affidavit before the Lords of Trade {N. C. Rec, 
I. 296) and in his petition to the Treasury {Cal. of Treasury Books, VI. 806-807) 
that Miller sailed with him as master in the small shallop Success from Bermuda. 
We must believe, therefore, that the proprietaries were wrong in their statement 
and that neither Eastchurch nor Miller got farther than Bermuda. 



1677] INSURRECTION IN NORTH CAROLINA 159 

gave him very full and ample powers. Miller, arriveing in 
Carolina with these Commissions, is quyetly received into the 
Governm't, and submitted to not onely as Gov'r but the King's 
Collector, in the discharg of w'ch duty as Collector he made a 
very considerable progress. But as Governor he did many 
extravagant things, making strange limitations for the choyce 
of the Parliam't, gitting power in his hands of laying fynes, 
w'ch tis to be feared he neither did nor meant to use moder- 
ately, sending out strange warrants to bring some of the most 
considerable men of the Country alive or dead before him, 
setting a summe of money upon their heads : these proceedings 
having startled and disaffected the people towards him, there 
arrives Capt. Zachariah Gilham with a very pretty vessell of 
some force, and together with him Durant, and about the same 
time Culpeper. They brought with them severall Armes, 
w'ch were for Trade in the Country, and findeing that Miller 
had lost his reputation and interest amongst the people, 
stirr'd up a Commotion, seized him and all the writings be- 
longing to the Prop'rs, and all the Tobacco and writings be- 
longing to the Kings Customes, imploying the Kings Tobacco 
towards the charge of maintaining and supporting their unlaw- 
ful actions, And, w'ch aggravated the matter very much, 
Durant had in England sometyme before this Voyage declared 
to some of the Prop'rs that Eastchurch should not be Governor 
and threatened to revolt. Capt. Gilham was a fitt man for 
his turn, having been turn'd out by some of the Prop'rs of a 
considerable imploym't in Hudson's Bay, wherein he had very 
much abused them. 

Culpeper was a very ill man, having some tyme before 
fled from South Carolina, where he was in danger of hanging 
for laying the designe and indeavouring to sett the poore peo- 
ple to plunder the rich. These, with Crafurd and some other 
New England men, had a designe (as we conceive) to gitt the 
trade of this part of the Country into their hands for some 
years att least. And not onely defraud the King of all his Cus- 
tomes but buy the goods of the Inhabitants att their owne 
rates, for they gave not to them above halfe the valine for their 
goods of w'ch the Virginians sold theirs for. 

Not long after this imprisonment of Miller and that these 
generall men had formed themselves into what Mr Culpeper 



160 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1679 

calls the Govern't of the Country by their owne authority and 
according to their owne modell, Mr Eastchurch arrives in 
Virginia, whose authority and Commission they had not the 
least colour to dispute and yet they kept him out by force of 
armes, soe that he was forced to apply to the then Governr of 
Virginia for aid and assistance from him to reduce them, w'ch 
had been accordingly donne, but that Eastchurch unfortu- 
nately dyes of a feavour. Presently after this these Gentlemen 
that had usurped the Govern' t and cast of and imprisoned our 
Deputyes that would not comply with them, sends over 2 
Commiss'rs in their names to promise all obedience to the Lds 
Propr's, but insisting very highly for right against Miller. 
The Prop'rs perswaded one of their owne Members, Mr South- 
well,^ to goe over and be Governor himselfe, to whome they 
promised the utmost submission (he being a very sober dis- 
creet gentleman) and was allsoe authorized from the Commis- 
s'rs of the Customes to take care of the Kings concerns there, 
which wee conceive he would have settled in very good order 
but that he was unfortunately taken by the Turks in his pas- 
sage thither, And upon whome the settlem't of the place very 
much depends, it being a very difficult matter to gitt a man 
of worth and trust to go thither. His redemption is every 
day expected, and in the meanewhile we have dispatched one 
Mr Holden^ with Comissions and Deputations for the Gov- 

1 Seth Sothell, having purchased the share of Lord Clarendon, became one 
of the "true and absolute lords of the province," holding the office of "Admiral," 
with the right to appoint a provost marshal. The first plan of the proprietaries 
was to send him to Albemarle to serve as deputy in Miller's place, the deputation 
to cease should Miller "be thought fit to be sent back"; but in 1678 the plan was 
changed, and Sothell was commissioned governor. On his way to the colony 
he was taken by Algerine cruisers and carried to Algiers, but two or three years 
later he obtained his release by paying a large ransom. (Documents relative 
to the Colonial History of New York, III. 717.) At this time the Algerines were 
particularly aggressive, Virginia traders reporting them as "very strong" and 
"coming into the [English] channel," and Boston merchants declaring that they 
infested the seas and were a great obstruction to trade {Cal. St. P. Col., 1677- 
1680, pp. 361, 530). 

2 Robert Holden was appointed instead of Sothell to collect for the pro- 
prietors the quit-rents and other proprietary dues and droits, at a ten-per-cent 
commission. He was also appointed deputy collector on the same terms as in 
Sothell's case, that is, until it was decided whether or not Miller should be sent 
back. As the customs board decided against Miller's return, Holden became 



1677] INSURRECTION IN NORTH CAROLINA 161 

ernor to those that we did imadgine would manage it with 
most moderation, who sends us word that all is now quyett 
and peaceable. But his Maj'ty ought to have an exact acc't 
and reparation for the damadges donne in his Customes, and 
his officers repayed, the charge of w'ch ought in reason to fall 
principally upon those that have been the cheife Actors in it. 
[Indorsed:] The Case of T. Miller, Z. Gilham, etc. concern- 
ing The Rebellion of Carolina. Rec'd from Sir P. Colleton 
the 9th of Feb'ry, 1679-80. 

Answer of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, read the 20 Nov. 

1680. 

In obedience to your Ld'ps command in your order of the 
19th of July we have perused the petitions of Mr Thomas 
Miller and Mr Timothy Biggs and some of the Inhabitants 
of Albemarle in Carolina, and according to the best informa- 
tion we can att present gett finde the matter of fact they com- 
plaine of to be as foUoweth : 

Mr Thomas Miller without any legall authority gott posses- 
sion of the government of the County of Albemarle in Caro- 
lina in the yeare 1677, and was for a tyme quyetly obeyed, but 
doeing many Ulegall and arbitrary things and drinking often 
to excess and putting the people in generall by his threats and 
actions in great dread of their lives and estates, and they as 
we suppose getting some knowledge that he had no legall 
authority, tumultuously and disorderly imprison him, and 
suddainly after Mr Biggs and Mr Nixon, for adhering to Mr 
Miller and abetting him in some of his actions, and revive an 

collector in Albemarle, serving as deputy from 1679 to 1680 and as principal 
from 1680 to 1684. No collector's name for Albemarle is entered on the cus- 
toms rolls after 1684, until that of Thomas Paice, in 1697. Miller, who was 
naturally hostile to Holden not only for taking his place as collector but also 
for having acted as secretary of the "Grand Council" held in Albemarle, No- 
vember, 1679, to try him for treason and blasphemy, asserted that Holden was 
"one of the persons condemned as a ringleader in the late rebellion in Virginia"; 
but I can find no further proof of this statement. Holden was the first collector 
in Albemarle to return to the British exchequer any money from the plantation 
duty, and after his name disappears in 1684, nothing whatever is recorded from 
Albemarle until 1697. This fact furnishes an interesting commentary on the 
customs situation in North Carolina. 



162 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1679 

accusation against Mr Miller of treasonable words for which 
he had been formerly imprison'd but never tryed, And appoynt 
Mr Culpeper to receive the Kings Customes dureing the im- 
prisonment of Mr Miller, and did msmy other tumultuous and 
irregular things. Mr Bigs makes his escape and comes home 
to England and gives us information of these disorders, upon 
w'ch we gott one Mr Seth Sothell, who is interested with us, 
to undertake the Government, who being a sober moderate 
man and no way concerned in the factions and animosityes 
of the place, we doubt not but would settle all things well 
there, and to whome we gave Instructions to examine into the 
past disorders and punish the offenders. And the Comiss'rs 
of his Maj'ts Customes gave him also a Commission to be 
Collector of his Maj'ts Customes in Albemarle, but Mr Southell 
in his voyage thither was taken by the Turks and carryed into 
Argiers.^ 

As soone as we heard of Mr Sothell's misfortune we sent 
a Comission to one Mr Harvey^ to be Gov'r untill Mr Sothel's 
arrivall there, whose release we speedily expected. With this 
Comission went Mr Robert Holden, whoome the Comissioners 
of the Customes had appoynted Collector of his Maj'tes Cus- 
tomes in Albemarle in the roome of Mr Sothell; both these 
Comissions as we are informed were quyetly and cherefully 
obeyed by the people, and Mr Holden hath without any dis- 
turbance from the People collected his Maj'tes Customes there 
and sent part of it home to the Comissioners here, and part 
of the Customes having been made use of by the people in the 
tyme of the disorders, they have laid a Taxe upon themselves 
for the repaying it to Mr Holden the present Collector. 

Not long after the settlem't of the Governm't in Mr Har- 
vey, he and the Council (as we are informed) did committ Mr 
Miller againe, in order to the bringing him to a Tryall for the 
treasonable words I ) had formerly spoken. But Mr Miller 
breakes prison and comes for England. And not long after 
Mr Bigs (who is by the Comissioners of the Customes ap- 
poynted Surveyor of his Ma'tys dues in Albemarle) and Mr 

^ Algiers. 

* Governor John Harvey was appointed in February, 1679, to hold office 
until Sothell should be released. He died in office in the summer of the same 
year. 



1680] INSURRECTION IN NORTH CAROLINA 163 

Holden the Collector quarrell among themselves, and Mr Bigs 
withdrawes himself from the Councill and perswades James 
Hill, the Duke of Albemarle's Deputy, to doe the same, hopeing 
thereby as we conceive to make a disturbance in the Governm't. 
Since then Mr Harvey is dead, and the Councill have chosen 
Col. Jenkins to execute the place of Governor untill we shall 
appoynt another, and all things, as we are informed by letters 
from thence beareing date May, June, and July last, are in 
quyet, and his Maj'tyes Customes quyetly paid by the People, 
though Mr Bigs hath endeavoured to interrupt the same to- 
gether with some others, who being, as we are informed, 
prosecuted for ayding Mr Miller in his escape and other mis- 
demeanors, are withdrawn into Virginia, and which we con- 
ceive are the persons whose names are to the Petition pre- 
sented to his Majesty. And this is the truest acc'tt we are 
able to give your Lordships, how the cases of Mr Miller and 
Mr Bigs appeares to us. And to prevent the like disorders 
for the future, which hath been in great measure occasioned 
by factions and animosityes, in which most or all of the In- 
habitants have been engaged. 

We are sending Capt. Wilkinson^ thither Governor, to 
whoome we shall give Instructions to examine into the past 
disorders, and who being a Stranger and not concerned in the 
factions and animosityes, we have reason to hope wOl manage 
things with moderation and doe equall justice to all partyes, 
and we undertake will take care so to settle all things that his 
Maj'tes Customes shall be duely paid to whomsoever shall be 
appoynted to collect the same. 

Notwithstanding, we think it our dutye to informe your 
Lordships that we are of opinion Mr Miller, being deeply in- 
gaged in the Animosityes of the place and having by divers 
un justify able actions as we are informed (besides Indictments 

^ How little is commonly known of Wilkinson's connection with the colony- 
is evident from Ashe's belief, expressed in his History of North Carolina, that 
Wilkinson actually served as governor (I. 138). It is true that Wilkinson was 
appointed and made all preparations to saU, hiring a vessel and placing family, 
servants, and goods on board, but before he could depart, he was arrested 
and thrown into "the Compter in Wood Street," one of the two prisons for 
the confinement of those who were arrested within London and the liberties. 
He never went to the colony. 



164 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS (1680 

found against him) renderd himself lyable to the sutes of per- 
ticular persons for Injuryes donne them, from which he cannot 
by Law be protected, That a Stranger will doe his Maj'tye 
better service in that Imployment than Mr Miller, and more 
conduce to the continuation of the quyet of the place, which 
we submit to your Lord'ps great prudence, and rest 
Your L'd'ps most humble Serv'ts 

Craven. 
Shaftesbury. 

P. Colleton. 



BYFIELD'S ACCOUNT OF THE LATE 
REVOLUTION, 1689 



INTRODUCTION 

The "great and glorious" revolution that made an end 
of the reign of the Stuarts in England and placed William of 
Orange on the throne occurred in November, 1688. Rumors 
of the projected invasion had come to Boston as early as 
December, and reports of its success had reached the ears 
of the people there during the March following. Full details 
were not available, however, until the arrival of two ships 
from London, May 26 and 29, 1689, bearing the official con- 
firmation in the form of royal proclamations intrusted for 
transmission to Sir William Phips. 

But on April 4, eight weeks before, John Winslow, arriving 
from Nevis, had brought written copies of the Declaration 
issued from Holland, October 10, by the Prince of Orange 
and printed in translation early in November, instructing " all 
magistrates who have been unjustly turned out" to resume 
"their former employments" {House of Commons Journal, X. 
4). Though this Declaration in no way applied to the colonies, 
the paper was speedily printed as a broadside, and its contents 
were made known to the people of the town. On April 18 
the uprising took place in Boston and the government of 
Andros was overthrown. Whether the magistrates and heads 
of the old order had made any preparations in anticipation of 
success in England is uncertain. Hutchinson {History of 
Massachusetts Bay, I. 373) says that they "silently wished 
and secretly prayed" but determined "quietly to await the 
event." That they had considered plans in private is more 
than likely, and that in the two weeks between the receipt of 
the Declaration and the actual uprising something definite 

167 



168 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

had been done seems manifest from the machine-Hke precision 
with which the revolution moved and from the fact that the 
revolution took place on April 18 for no other reason than 
that preparations were complete (c/. The Andros Tracts, II. 
195). But of organized conspiracy there is no certain proof, 
as no papers or other evidence of an incriminating character 
have come to light, except such as are contained in the state- 
ments of those whose interest it was to view the uprising as 
a movement long maturing (pp. 196-199, 257). 

During the two years following the revolution a great 
amount of pamphlet and other literature came into existence 
for the purpose of justifying or condemning the event. First 
among the pamphlets in point of time was the account written 
by Nathaniel Byfield, who was then residing at Bristol, Rhode 
Island, and who seized the favorable opportunity of a ship 
bound for London that had unexpectedly put in at Bristol. 
Byfield despatched a narrative, composed on April 29, only 
eleven days after the event, in the form of a letter to Doctor 
Increase Mather and the other agents and friends in London. 
It was printed in London the following June and reprinted in 
Edinburgh the same year. With the narrative Byfield de- 
spatched a broadside, entitled Declaration of the Gentlemen, 
Merchants, and Inhabitants of Boston and the Country Ad- 
jacent, containing a summary of grievances against the Andros 
government, which had been drawn up, probably on the day 
of the revolt, by Increase Mather's son. Cotton Mather, then 
but twenty-six years old, read from the balcony of the town 
house to the crowd below, and, a few days afterward, printed 
in enlarged form as a broadside for distribution. 

Byfield's narrative is not the account of an eye-witness 
but is made up from letters and other forms of advice received 
from Boston. Nevertheless, it was written by one thoroughly 
conversant with affairs in Massachusetts, for Byfield had come 
to the colony in 1674, at the age of twenty-one, and had re- 



INTRODUCTION 169 

sided much of the time at Boston, engaging in business as a 
merchant. Apart from his connection with the miUtia, which 
gave him his title of captain, he had as yet taken Httle part 
in the government of the colony. After 1689 he became a 
member of the General Court (legislative assembly) and in 
1693 was made speaker. His most important post was that 
of judge of the court of vice-admiralty, to which he was first 
appointed in 1699; and, though superseded by Wait Win- 
throp before he entered on the oflSce, he was reappointed and 
continued to serve at varying intervals until his death in 1733. 
Toward the end he was characterized as a "poor, superannu- 
ated gentleman, near eighty years old, who already distin- 
guished himself very partial to the country." He became one 
of the proprietors of Bristol, purchasing the peninsula of Poppy- 
squash, and in 1706 was honored by the selection of his name 
for the territorial parish of "Byfield," which included the 
present towns of Newburyport and Haverhill.^ He was a 
church elder and deacon and a true New Englander, and his 
narrative, though naturally favorable to the colony, is straight- 
forward and impartial, substantially correct in all its details. 
By^eld's Narrative was reprinted in the Historical Magazine, 
January, 1862, and again by Sabin in his Quarto Series, no. 1 
(1865). Three years afterward it was again printed by Whit- 
more as the first of The Andros Tracts (1868). An abstract 
will be found in the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1689- 
1692, § 96. The accompanying Declaration was first printed 
as a broadside at Boston by Samuel Green, a few days after 
the revolution. It is embodied in all the reprints of the nar- 
rative mentioned above and has been reprinted separately 
by Neal in his History of New England. A copy of the broad- 
side is in the Public Record Office. 



* J. L. Ewell, The Story of By field (Boston, 1904). This volume contains a 
portrait of Byfield. 



BYFIELD'S ACCOUNT OF THE LATE REVOLU- 
TION, 1689 

An Account of the Late Revolution in New-England. Together 
with the Declaration of the Gentlemen, Merchants, and In- 
habitants of Boston, and the Country Adjacent. April 18, 
1689. 

Written by Mr. Nathanael ByfteM, a Merchant of Bristol in 
New-England, to his Friends in London. Licensed, June 
27, 1689. J. Eraser. 

London : Printed fm- Ric. Chitwell, at the Rose and Crown in 
St. PauVs Church-Yard. MDCLXXXIX. 

Gentlemen, 

Here being an opportunity of sending for London, by a 
Vessel that loaded at Long-Island, and for want of a Wind 
put in here; and not knowing that there will be the like from 
this Country suddenly, I am willing to give you some brief 
Account of the most remarkable Things that have hapned 
here within this Fortnight last past; concluding that till 
about that time, you will have received per Carter, a full 
Account of the management of Affairs here. Upon the Eight- 
eenth Instant, about Eight of the Clock in the Morning, in 
Boston, it was reported at the South end of the Town, That 
at the North end^ they were all in Arms; and the like Report 
was at the North end, respecting the South end : Whereupon 
Captain John George^ was immediately seized, and about 
Nine of the Clock the Drums beat thorough the Town; and 
an Ensign was set up upon the Beacon. Then Mr. Bradstreet,^ 

1 For the North End and South End see below, p. 186, note 4. 

2 For Captain John George, R. N., see below, p. 213. 

3 Simon Bradstreet was the last governor under the old regime. Though 
he was in his eighty-sixth year, he was chosen head of the provisional government 
that was set up after the fall of Andros. 

170 



1689] BYFIELD, THE LATE REVOLUTION 171 

Mr. Dantforth/ Major Richards, Dr. Cooke, and Mr. Ad- 
dington, etc. were brought to the Council-house by a Company 
of Soldiers under the Command of Captain Hill.^ The mean 
while the People in Arms did take up and put into GoaP Jus- 
tice BuUivant,* Justice Foxcroft,^ Mr. Randolf,^ Sheriff 
Sherlock,^ Captain Ravenscroft,^ Captain White, ^ Farewel,^° 

^Thomas Danforth was deputy-governor under Andros; John Richards, 
Elisha Cooke, and Isaac Addington were members of the council and all rep- 
resented the "faction" opposed to Andros. Cooke and Hutchinson were select- 
men of the town of Boston, and Addington afterward became the first secretary 
of the colony under the new charter. 

2 Captain James Hill of the militia was a prominent merchant and deacon 
in Boston. He died in 1720. 

3 Gaol, jail. 

* Doctor Benjamin Bullivant, apothecary and physician, came to Boston 
in 1685, and was a justice of the peace and for a time clerk of the council under 
Andros. Dunton's sketch of him (Letters, p. 94) is now known to be of little 
value. {Publications, Colonial Society of Massachusetts, XIV. 256). Bullivant 
was one of the founders of King's Chapel, the Anglican church in Boston, and 
served as churchwarden. He afterward returned to England. 

^ Francis Foxcroft, a justice of the peace under Andros, was also a member 
and churchwarden of King's Chapel. He was one of the "Small Knot of Male 
Contents" who signed the address to William III. in defence of the Anglican 
church {The Andros Tracts, II. 28-32). After the revolt he remained in the 
colony and became a judge of the court of common pleas under Governor 
Dudley. 

^ For Edward Randolph see below, p. 189, note 3. 

'James Sherlock was a councillor in 1684 and became sheriff of Suffolk 
County in 1687. After his imprisonment he was sent back to England with 
Andros. Later he returned to America, going to Virginia, where he became 
clerk of the council and clerk of the assembly. 

8 Samuel Ravenscroft was captain of an artillery company in Boston in 
1679. He became a warden of King's Chapel in 1689, and with Foxcroft signed 
the address to William HI. After the revolt he went to Virginia, where Ran- 
dolph endeavored to get him a post as comptroller of the customs, stating him to 
be "an understanding and active man, personally known to Sir Edmund Andros 
and Lieut. Gov. Nicholson." But his name does not appear on the custom 
rolls. 

8 Captain William White, one of the new militia oflBcers, commissioned in 
1687, was a member of King's Chapel. Dunton's description of him is unusually 
elaborate and worthless. 

" George Farwell was a member of the King's Chapel congregation. He 
was counsel for Randolph in the latter's suit for libel against Increase Mather. 
He was sent to England with Andros, but returned to New York, where he became 
king's counsel, and where he served as one of the attorneys who conducted the 
trial of Leisler (p. 392). 



172 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

Broadbent/ Crafford,^ Larkin,^ Smith,* and many more, 
as also Mercey the then Goal-keeper, and put Scates^ the 
Bricklayer in his place. About Noon, in the Gallery at the 
Council-house, was read the Declaration here inclosed. Then 
a Message was sent to the Fort to Sir Edmund Andross,^ by 
Mr. Oliver and Mr. Eyres, ^ signed by the Gentlemen then in 
the Council-Chamber, (which is here also inclosed); to in- 
form him how unsafe he was like to be if he did not deliver up 
himself, and Fort and Government forthwith, which he was 
loath to do. By this time, being about two of the Clock (the 
Lecture^ being put by) the Town was generally in Arms, and 
so many of the Countrey came in, that there was twenty 
Companies in Boston, besides a great many that appeared at 
Charles Town that could not get over (some say fifteen hun- 
dred). There then came Information to the Soldiers, That a 
Boat was come from the Frigat that made towards the Fort, 
which made them haste thither, and come to the Sconce soon 

^Jonathan Broadbent was born in Maryland, was sheriff of New Hamp- 
shire in 1671 (Savage), and under Andros served as one of his tax-collectors. 
He contributed to the erection of King's Chapel. After leaving Boston he 
went first to New York, where he seems to have held a post as marshal or sheriff 
(Goodrick, Randolph, VH. 406), and then to Virginia, where he commanded 
a sloop employed by the crown to suppress illegal trade. Benjamin Harrison 
called him "a man whose character was a sufficient scandal to his employ- 
ment." 

2 Doctor Mungo Crafford was an apothecary and an attendant at King's 
Chapel. 

' Thomas Larkin was also of the King's Chapel congregation, and served as 
"messenger" or marshal of the council. 

* Probably Adam Smith, one of the contributors to the King's Chapel 
fund. 

' "Scates the Bricklayer" may have been the same as the Scates mentioned 
in Bullivant's "Journal" {Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
1878, p. 107), to whom Phips gave a post in the Port Royal expedition. One 
John Scate is mentioned in the Boston tax lists. There is also a "Richard Keates 
the bricklayer." 

6 For Sir Edmund Andros see below, pp. 223-227. 

^ Nathaniel Oliver and John Eyre were prominent residents of Boston, be- 
longing to the anti-Andros party. Sewall's Diary is full of gossip regarding these 
Boston men, such as Hill, Winthrop, Eyre, Oliver, Shrimpton, and others, who 
represented the colonial party against the newcomers. (See p. 177, note 3.) 

* The Thursday Lecture was an important feature of church life in Puritan 
Boston. 



1689] BYFIELD, THE LATE REVOLUTION 173 

after the Boat got thither; and 'tis said that Governor Andross, 
and about half a score Gentlemen, were coming down out of 
the Fort; but the Boat being seized, wherein were small Arms, 
Hand-Granadoes, and a quantity of Match, the Governour 
and the rest went in again; whereupon Mr. John Nelson,^ 
who was at the head of the Soldiers, did demand the Fort and 
the Governor, who was loath to submit to them ; but at length 
did come down, and was, with the Gentlemen that were with 
him, conveyed to the Council-house, where Mr. Bradstreet 
and the rest of the Gentlemen waited to receive him; to whom 
Mr. Stoughton^ first spake, telling him. He might thank him- 
self for the present Disaster that had befallen him, etc. He 
was then confined for that Night to Mr. John Usher's^ House 
under strong Guards, and the next Day conveyed to the Fort, 
(where he yet remains, and with him Lieutenant Collonel 
Ledget)^ which is under the command of Mr. John Nelson; 
and at the Castle, which is under the Command of Mr. John 

^ Captain John Nelson was at this time a young merchant and the head 
of the eight companies of militia. Hutchinson says that he was "an enemy to 
the tyrannical government of Andros, but an Episcopalian in principle, and of a 
gay, free temper, which prevented his being allowed any share in the administra- 
tion after it was settled" (I. 378). Failing to obtain command of the Port 
Royal expedition, which was given to Phips, he refused to serve as a regular 
oflficer, but took part in the war, was captured and sent first to Quebec and 
afterward to France, not returning for ten or twelve years (N. Y. Col. Docs., IV. 
206-211). As nephew and executor of Sir Thomas Temple, governor of Nova 
Scotia, who died in 1674, he laid claim to the territory of Nova Scotia, a claim 
that he sold in 1730 to Samuel Waldo of Boston (Canadian Archives, 1886, p. 
cliv). 

* William Stoughton was one of Andros's councillors, but after the revolu- 
tion sided with the colonial party, and was rewarded with the lieutenant-governor- 
ship (Mass. Hist. Soc., Collections, fifth ser., I. 422-423, note). 

' John Usher, son of Hezekiah Usher, bookseller of Boston, was councillor, 
treasurer, and receiver-general under Andros. He was lieutenant-governor of 
New Hampshire, 1692-1696, while his father-in-law, Samuel Allen, was governor, 
and was reappointed in 1703, serving till 1715. He was always unpopular (Fry, 
New Hampshire, pp. 85-86). 

* Colonel Charles Lidget, "an accomplished merchant," was one of the found- 
ers of King's Chapel. In 1687 he was an assistant judge under Dudley as 
chief justice. With Nelson, Foxcroft, and other Episcopalians he signed an ad- 
dress in 1690 praying for an assembly. He returned to England but retained 
his interest in and business connections with the colony until his death in 
1698. 



174 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

Fairweather,^ is Mr. West,^ Mr. Graham,^ Mr. Palmer,^ 
and Captain Tryfroye.^ At that time Mr. Dudley^ was out 
upon the Circuit, and was holding a Court at Southold on 
Long-Island. And on the 21st Instant he arrived at Newport, 
where he heard the News. The next Day Letters came to 
him, advising him not to come home; he thereupon went over 
privately to Major Smith's at Naraganzett,' and Advice is 
this Day come hither, that yesterday about a dozen young 
Men, most of their own Heads, went thither to demand him; 
and are gone with him down to Boston. We have also Ad- 
vice, that on Fryday last towards Evening, Sir Edmond Andross 
did attempt to make an Escape in Woman's Apparel, and 
pass'd two Guards, and was stopped at the third, being dis- 
covered by his Shoes, not having changed them. We are here 
ready to blame you sometimes, that we have not to this Day 

^ Captain John Fairweather was one of the selectmen of Boston. 

2 John West came to New York with Andros in 1674. He became clerk of 
the court of assizes, and town clerk in 1681. Importuned by Andros to go to 
Boston, he leased from Randolph the secretaryship of the dominion of New 
England (Toppan, Randolph, IV. 155, 231). Randolph entered into this ar- 
rangement, which was disadvantageous to him, in order to keep in Andros's good 
graces {id., 168, 231). It was West not Randolph who carried off to Boston the 
records and seal of New York, which, however, were afterward returned. Later 
West became naval oflBcer and deputy receiver in Maryland. 

' James Graham came to New York with Andros in 1674, and held many 
important offices there. He was called to Boston by Andros in 1688, and ap- 
pointed attorney-general. He returned to England in 1690, but finally made his 
way back to New York and became an influential leader there. 

^ John Palmer was another New Yorker who had served Andros when gov- 
ernor, having been councillor and chief judge of the supreme court. He went 
to Boston in 1686, and became a judge in 1688. Returning to England with 
Andros, he wrote an elaborate defense of Andros's government {The Andros 
Tracts, I. 21). 

* Captain Thomas Treffry was a cousin of Randolph's and through Blath- 
wayt's aunt, Mrs. Thomas Vivian, was a connection of William Blathwayt, the 
influential auditor general of the plantation revenues and clerk of the Privy 
Council. Treffry had been an ensign in Lord Bath's regiment in 1685, and was 
commissioned lieutenant of one of the two companies of regulars sent to New 
England. When Andros was away from Boston Treffry was in chief command. 

^ Joseph Dudley was president of the council and head of the government, 
May-December, 1686, councillor and chief justice under Andros, 1686-1689, a 
member of parliament, 1701-1702, and governor of Massachusetts Bay, 1702- 
1715. See Kimball, The Public Life of Joseph Dudley. 

' Wickford, R. I. 



1689] BYFIELD, THE LATE REVOLUTION 175 

received advice concerning the great Changes in England, 
and in particular how it is like to fair with us here; who do 
hope and believe that all these Things will work for our Good ; 
and that you will not be wanting to promote the Good of a 
Country that stands in such need as New England does at 
this Day. The first Day of May, according to former Usage, 
is the Election Day at Road Island; and many do say they 
intend their Choice there then.^ I have not farther to trouble 
you with at present, but recommending you, and all our 
Affairs with you, to the Direction and Blessing of our most 
Gracious God, I remain 

Gentlemen, 

Your most Humble 

Servant at Command, 

Nathanael Byfield. 
Bristol, April 29, 1689. 

Through the Goodness of God, there hath 
been no Blood shed. Nath. Clark^ is in 
Plymouth Gaol, and John Smith in Gaol 
here, all waiting for News from England. 

The Declaration of the Gentlemen, Merchants and Inhabitants of Boston, 
and the Country Adjacent. April 18, 1689. 

§ I. We have seen more than a decad of Years rolled away 
since the English World had the Discovery of an horrid Popish 
Plot;' wherein the bloody Devotoes of Rome had in their Design 
and Prospect no less than the Extinction of the Protestant Religion : 
which mighty Work they called the utter subduing of a Pestilent 
Heresy; wherein (they said) there never were such Hopes of Success 
since the Death of Queen Mary, as now in our Days. And we were 
of all Men the most insensible, if we should apprehend a Countrey 
so remarkable for the true Profession and pure Exercise of the Protes- 
tant Religion as New-England is, wholly unconcerned in the In- 
famous Plot. To crush and break a Countrey so entirely and sig- 

^ /. e., choice, in accordance with their charter, of Rhode Island officers 
to act in place of Andros's New England government. 

2 Nathaniel Clark, of Plymouth, was secretary of that colony and a coun- 
cillor under Andros. In 1691 he joined with others in an address to the king, 
"setting forth our miserable condition." 

3 The Titus Gates Plot of 1678. 



176 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

nally made up of Reformed Churches, and at length to involve it 
in the miseries of an utter Extirpation, must needs carry even a 
Supererogation of Merit with it among such as were intoxicated with 
a Bigotry inspired into them by the great Scarlet Whore. 

§ II. To get us within the reach of the Desolation desired for 
us, it was no improper thing that we should first have our Charter 
vacated, and the Hedge which kept us from the wild Beasts of the 
Field, effectually broken down. The Accomplishment of this was 
hastned by the unwearied Sollicitations and slanderous Accusations 
of a Man, for his Malice and Falshood well known unto us all. Our 
Charter was with a most injurious Pretence (and scarce that) of 
Law,^ condemned before it was possible for us to appear at West- 
minster in the legal Defence of it; and without a fair leave to answer 
for our selves, concerning the Crimes falsly laid to our Charge, we 
were put under a President and Council,^ without any liberty for 
an Assembly, which the other American Plantations have, by a Com- 
mission from his Majesty. 

§ III. The Commission was as Illegal for the Form of it, as 
the Way of obtaining it was Malicious and Unreasonable: yet we 
made no Resistance thereunto as we could easily have done; but 
chose to give all Mankind a Demonstration of our being a People 
sufficiently dutiful and loyal to our King: and this with yet more 
Satisfaction, because we took Pains to make our selves believe as 
much as ever we could of the Whedle then offer'd unto us; That his 
Magesty's Desire was no other then the happy Encrease and Advance 
of these Provinces by their more immediate Dependance on the 
Crown of England. And we were convinced of it by the Courses 
immediately taken to damp and spoyl our Trade;' whereof Decay es 
and Complaints presently filled all the Country; while in the mean 
time neither the Honour nor the Treasure of the King was at all 

^ The Massachusetts Bay Charter was legally vacated. I agree with Doctor 
Kimball when he says, "Whether the charter was justly vacated or not is not the 
question; the method taken was a proper one to use in vacating a charter, and 
the decree in Chancery stood and was legally binding until reversed by some 
higher authority" (The Public Life of Joseph Dudley, p. 20). On the general 
situation see Beer, The Old Colonial System, part I., II. 312-313. The argument 
for Massachusetts is given by Deane, Memorial History of Boston, I. 369-380. 

2 Dudley's commission for a government by president and council was issued 
September 27, 1685. 

3 Reference is here made to the more rigorous efforts that were expended 
to enforce the navigation acts by the royal proclamation of 1675, the new instruc- 
tions to the governors of the same year, the appointment of Randolph as collector 
of customs in New England in 1678, and the attempts that Randolph made to 
check illicit trade. 



1689] BYFIELD, THE LATE REVOLUTION 177 

advanced by this new Model of our Affairs, but a considerable Charge 
added unto the Crown. 

§ IV. In little more than half a Year we saw this Commission 
superseded by another yet more absolute and Arbitrary/ with which 
Sir Edmond Andross arrived as our Governour: who besides his 
Power, with the Advice and Consent of his Council, to make Laws 
and raise Taxes as he pleased, had also Authority by himself to 
Muster and Imploy all Persons residing in the Territory as occasion 
shall serve; and to transfer such Forces to any English Plantation 
in America, as occasion shall require. And several Companies of 
Souldiers^ were now brought from Europe, to support what was to 
be imposed upon us, not without repeated Menaces that some hun- 
dreds more were intended for us. 

§ V. The Government was no sooner in these Hands, but Care 
was taken to load Preferments principally upon such Men as were 
Strangers to and Haters of the People :^ and every ones Observation 
hath noted, what Qualifications recommended a Man to publick 
Offices and Employments, only here and there a good Man was used, 
where others could not easily be had; the Governour himself, with 
Assertions now and then falling from him, made us jealous that it 
would be thought for his Majesties Interest, if this People were re- 
moved and another succeeded in their room: And his far-fetch'd 
Instruments that were growing rich among us, would gravely inform 
us, that it was not for his Majesties Interest that we should thrive. 
But of all our Oppressors we were chiefly squeez'd by a Crew of ab- 
ject Persons fetched from New York, to be the Tools of the Adver- 
sary, standing at our right Hand; by these were extraordinary and 
intoUerable Fees extorted from every one upon all Occasions, with- 
out any Rules but those of their own insatiable Avarice and Beggary; 
and even the probate of a Will must now cost as many Pounds per- 
haps as it did Shillings heretofore; nor could a small Volume contain 

1 The first commission to Andros was dated June 3, 1686; the second, which 
included New York and the Jerseys, April 7, 1688. All these commissions were 
entirely legal. They established, however, a form of government wholly different 
from that which had been in vogue since 1630 and one thoroughly disliked by 
the New Englanders. Probably even a conciliatory and tactful man would have 
failed to win over the people he governed, and Andros was neither tactful nor 
conciliatory. 

^ Two companies of British regulars, altogether one hundred men, were 
sent over under Lieutenants Treffry and Weems. 

2 The New York men were West, Graham, Farwell, Palmer, Captain Francis 
Nicholson, and Captain Anthony Brockholes. The charge here made is mani- 
festly an exaggerated one; even on ordinary occasions Mather was not given to 
impartiality of statement, and this was no ordinary occasion. 



178 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

the other Illegalities done by these Horse-leeches in the two or three 
Years that they have been sucking of us; and what Laws they made 
it was as impossible for us to know, as dangerous for us to break;* 
but we shall leave the Men of Ipswich or Plimouth (among others) 
to tell the Story of the Kindness which has been shown them upon 
this Account. Doubtless a Land so ruled as once New-England was, 
has not without many Fears and Sighs beheld the wicked walking 
on every Side, and the vilest Men exalted. 

§ VI. It was now plainly affirmed, both by some in open 
Council, and by the same in private Converse, that the People in 
New-England were all Slaves, and the only difference between them 
and Slaves is their not being bought and sold; and it was a Maxim 
delivered in open Court unto us by one of the Council, that we must 
not think the Priviledges of English men would follow us to the End 
of the World :^ Accordingly we have been treated with multiplied 
Contradictions to Magna Charta, the Rights of which we laid claim 
unto. Persons who did but peaceably object against the raising of 
Taxes without an Assembly, have been for it fined, some twenty, 
some thirty, and others fifty Pounds. Packt and pickt Juries have 
been very common things among us, when, under a pretended Form 
of Law, the Trouble of some honest and worthy Men has been aimed 
at : but when some of this Gang have been brought upon the Stage, 
for the most detestable Enormities that ever the Sun beheld, all 
Men have with Admiration seen what Methods have been taken 
that they might not be treated according to their Crimes. Without 
a Verdict, yea, without a Jury sometimes have People been fined 
most unrighteously; and some not of the meanest Quality have been 
kept in long and close Imprisonment without any the least Informa- 
tion appearing against them, or an Habeas Corpus allowed unto 
them. In short, when our Oppressors have been a little out of Mony, 
'twas but pretending some Offence to be enquired into, and the most 
innocent of Men were continually put into no small Expence to answer 
the Demands of the Officers, who must have Mony of them, or a 
Prison for them, tho none could accuse them of any Misdemeanour. 

* He would neither suffer them to be printed nor fairly pubHshed. (Note 
in margin of original.) 

^ Reference is here made to Chief Justice Dudley's unfortunate remark, 
at the trial of Wise of Ipswich for refusal to pay taxes, "Mr. Wise, you have no 
more priviledges left you, than not to be sold as slaves." As no general assem- 
bly could meet to vote the taxes, levies were imposed by the governor and coun- 
cil. Even town-meetings were forbidden, except for the purpose of choosing 
officials and collecting such rates as were determined on at the council meetings 
in Boston. 



1689] BYFIELD, THE LATE REVOLUTION 179 

§ VIL To plunge the poor People every where into deeper In- 
capacities, there was one very comprehensive Abuse given to us; 
Multitudes of pious and sober Men through the Land scrupled the 
Mode of Swearing on the Book, desiring that they might Swear with 
an uplifted Hand, agreeable to the ancient Custom of the Colony; 
and though we think we can prove that the Common Law amongst 
us (as well as in some other places under the English Crown) not 
only indulges, but even commands and enjoins the Rite of lifting 
the Hand in Swearing; yet they that had this Doubt, were still put 
by from serving upon any Juries; and many of them were most un- 
accountably Fined and Imprisoned. Thus one Grievance is a 
Trojan Horse, in the Belly of which it is not easy to recount how 
many insufferable Vexations have been contained. 

§ VIII. Because these Things could not make us miserable 
fast enough, there was a notable Discovery made of we know not 
what flaw in all our Titles to our Lands ;^ and tho, besides our pur- 
chase of them from the Natives, and besides our actual peaceable 
unquestioned Possession of them for near threescore Years, and be- 
sides the Promise of K. Charles II. in his Proclamation sent over to 
us in the Year 1683, That no Man here shall receive any Prejudice 
in his Free-hold or Estate, We had the Grant of our Lands, under 
the Seal of the Council of Plimouth : which Grant was Renewed and 
Confirmed unto us by King Charles I. under the Great Seal of En- 
gland; and the General Court which consisted of the Patentees and 
their Associates, had made particular Grants hereof to the several 
Towns (though 'twas now deny'd by the Governour, that there was 
any such Thing as a Town) among us ; to all which Grants the Gen- 
eral Court annexed for the further securing of them, A General Act, 
published under the Seal of the Colony, in the Year 1684. Yet we 
were every day told, That no Man was owner of a Foot of Land in 
all the Colony. Accordingly, Writs of Intrusion began every where 
to be served on People, that after all their Sweat and their Cost upon 
their formerly purchased Lands, thought themselves Freeholders of 
what they had. And the Governor caused the Lands pertaining 
to these and those particular Men, to be measured out for his Crea- 
tures to take possession of; and the Right Owners, for pulling up 
the Stakes, have passed through Molestations enough to tire all the 
Patience in the World. They are more than a few, that were by 

* In the matter of land titles the colonists had a very real grievance. From 
the point of view of English law, the Massachusetts titles were none too secure, 
and many of the men in office were land-greedy. There was danger of the im- 
position of quit-rents, to which the colonists had a deep-seated antipathy (Chan- 
ning, History of the United States, II. 184-185). 



180 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

Terrors driven to take Patents for their Lands at excessive rates, to 
save them from the next that might petition for them : and we fear 
that the forcing of the People at the Eastward hereunto, gave too 
much Rise to the late unhappy Invasion made by the Indians on 
them. Blanck Patents were got ready for the rest of us, to be sold 
at a Price, that all the Mony and Moveables in the Territory could 
scarce have paid. And several Towns in the Country had their 
Commons begg'd by Persons (even by some of the Council themselves) 
who have been privately encouraged thereunto, by those that sought 
for Occasions to impoverish a Land already Peeled, Meeted out and 
Trodden down. 

§ IX. All the Council were not ingaged in these ill Actions, 
but those of them which were true Lovers of their Country were 
seldom admitted to, and seldomer consulted at the Debates'^ which 
produced these unrighteous Things: Care was taken to keep them 
under Disadvantages; and the Governor, with five or six more, did 
what they would. We bore all these, and many more such Things, 
without making any attempt for any Relief; only Mr. Mather,^ 
purely out of respect unto the Good of his Afflicted Country, under- 
took a Voyage into England; which when these Men suspected him 
to be preparing for, they used all manner of Craft and Rage, not 
only to interrupt his Voyage, but to ruin his Person too. God having 
through many Difficulties given him to arrive at White-hall, the 
King, more than once or twice, promised him a certain Magna 
Charta for a speedy Redress of many Things which we were groan- 
ing under : and in the mean time said. That our Governor should be 
written unto, to forbear the Measures that he was upon. However, 
after this, we were injured in those very Things which were com- 
plained of; and besides what Wrong hath been done in our Civil 
Concerns, we suppose the Ministers and the Churches every where 
have seen our Sacred Concerns apace going after them: How they 
have been Discountenanced, has had a room in the Reflection of 
every Man, that is not a Stranger in our Israel. 

§ X. And yet that our Calamity might not be terminated 
here, we are again Briar 'd in the Perplexities of another Indian War;' 

1 On this point see below, p. 226. 

" Rev. Increase Mather, agent of Massachusetts in England 1688-1692. 

3 The commentary on Andros's conduct of the Indian war is very disin- 
genuous. Whitmore says: "The accusations of treacherous treaties with the 
Indians were evidently stories of which a certain use was to be made, but which 
were not believed by members of the opposition." {The Andros Tracts, I. 24.) 
Andros was a soldier by profession, and he conducted the Indian campaign with 
skill. See his statement, Mass. Hist. Soc, Collections, third ser., I. 85-87. Con- 
ditions were much worse after his overthrow. 



16891 BYFIELD, THE LATE REVOLUTION 181 

how, or why, is a mystery too deep for us to unfold. And tho' 'tis 
judged that our Indian Enemies are not above 100 in Number, yet 
an Army of One thousand English hath been raised for the Con- 
quering of them; which Army of our poor Friends and Brethren now 
under Popish Commanders (for in the Army as well as in the Coun- 
cil, Papists are in Commission) has been under such a Conduct, that 
not one Indian hath been kill'd, but more English are supposed to 
have died through sickness and hardship, than we have Adversaries 
there alive; and the whole War hath been so managed, that we 
cannot but suspect in it a Branch of the Plot to bring us low; which 
we leave to be further enquir'd into in due time. 

§ XL We did nothing against these Proceedings, but only cry 
to our God; they have caused the cry of the Poor to come unto him, 
and he hears the cry of the Afflicted. We have been quiet hitherto, 
and so still we should have been, had not the Great God at this time 
laid us under a double engagement to do something for our Security : 
besides what we have in the strangely unanimous Inclination which 
our Countrymen by extreamest necessities are driven unto. For 
first, we are informed that the rest of the English America is alarmed 
with just and great Fears, that they may be attaqu'd by the French, 
who have lately ('tis said) already treated many of the English with 
worse then Turkish Cruelties; and while we are in equal Danger of 
being surprised by them, it is high time we should be better guarded, 
than we are like to be while the Government remains in the hands 
by which it hath been held of late. Moreover, we have understood, 
(though the Governour has taken all imaginable care to keep us all 
ignorant thereof) that the Almighty God hath been pleased to pros- 
per the noble Undertaking of the Prince of Orange, to preserve the 
three Kingdoms from the horrible brinks of Popery and Slavery, 
and to bring to a condign Punishment those worst of Men, by whom 
English Liberties have been destroy 'd; in compliance with which 
glorious Action we ought surely to follow the Patterns which the 
Nobility, Gentry and Commonalty in several parts of those King- 
doms have set before us, though they therein chiefly proposed to 
prevent what we already endure. 

§ XII. We do therefore seize upon the Persons of those few 
ill Men which have been (next to our Sins) the grand Authors of our 
Miseries; resolving to secure them, for what Justice, Orders from his 
Highness with the English Parliament shall direct, lest, ere we are 
aware, we find (what we may fear, being on all sides in Danger) our 
selves to be by them given away to a Forreign Power, before such 
Orders can reach unto us; for which Orders we now humbly wait. 
In the mean time firmly believing, that we have endeavoured noth- 
ing but what meer Duty to God and our Country calls for at our 



182 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

Hands: We commit our Enterprise unto the Blessing of Him, who 
hears the cry of the Oppressed, and advise all our Neighbours, for 
whom we have thus ventured our selves, to joyn with us in Prayers 
and all just Actions, for the Defence of the Land. 

At the Town-House in Boston, April 18, 1689. 
Sir, 

Our Selves and many others the Inhabitants of this Town, and 
the Places adjacent, being surprized with the Peoples sudden taking 
of Arms; in the first motion whereof we were wholly ignorant, being 
driven by the present Accident, are necessitated to acquaint your 
Excellency, that for the quieting and securing of the People inhabit- 
ing in this Country from the imminent Dangers they many ways lie 
open and exposed to, and tendring your own Safety, We judge it 
necessary you forthwith surrender and deliver up the Government 
and Fortification, to be preserved and disposed according to Order 
and Direction from the Crown of England, which suddenly is expected 
may arrive; promising all security from violence to your Self or 
any of your Gentlemen or Souldiers in Person and Estate: Other- 
wise we are assured they will endeavour the taking of the Fortifica- 
tion by Storm, if any Opposition be made. 

To Sir Edmond Andross Kt. 

Watte Winthrop. Elisha Cook. 

Simon Bradstreet. Isaac Addington. 

William Stoughton. John Nelson. 

Samuel Shrimpton. Adam Winthrop. 

Bartholomew Gidney. Peter Sergeant. 

William Brown. John Foster. 

Thomas Danforth. David Waterhouse. 
John Richards. 

Finis. 



LETTER OF SAMUEL PRINCE, 1689 



INTRODUCTION 

Samuel Prince, the writer of the following letter, was the 
son of Elder John Prince of Hull, Massachusetts, and the 
father of the Rev. Thomas Prince, collector and antiquary and 
pastor of the Old South Church. He was born in Boston, 
May, 1649, and, in 1686, married for his second wife Mercy, 
daughter of Governor Thomas Hinckley. He first resided at 
Hull and later at Sandwich, and at this time was on a visit 
to Boston. 

Prince's account of the uprising in Boston was sent to his 
wife at Sandwich to be forwarded to her father, who was the 
sixth and last governor of the colony of New Plymouth. 
Prince personally saw many of the events that he describes 
and so is an authority of first rank. Furthermore, he had no 
other object in writing than to state briefly and simply the 
facts as he knew them, and for that reason his narrative stands 
with that of Byfield as neither a defense nor an apology, but 
as a reliable picture of the movement. It was written a week 
before Byfield's account, and so, though covering a shorter 
period of time, stands nearer to the actual date of the event. 
Hutchinson printed the greater part of the letter in his His- 
tory (I. 374-377); but he did not know the identity of the 
author. The letter was printed in full in the Collections of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, fourth series, V. 192-196, 
in the Hinckley Papers, a group of manuscripts that had been 
preserved by Rev. Thomas Prince, whom his grandfather had 
in a sense adopted and to whom the old governor had imparted 
his love for gathering historical manuscripts. These papers 
were bequeathed by Prince to the Old South Church and 
society. 

185 



LETTER OF SAMUEL PRINCE, 1689 

Boston, April 22, '89. 
Honored Sir, 

The consideration of my sending you a blank, wherein 
only the declaration^ was enclosed, seems to deserve a check, 
and constrains me to an apology, not having, at that time, 
so much as liberty granted me by the messenger to write two 
or three lines, whereby you might have understood the present 
state of things, which by this time you are doubtless acquainted 
withal; but, lest it should prove otherwise, I have now taken 
the pains to give a brief account. 

I knew not any thing of what was intended, till it was 
begun; yet being at the north end of the town, where I saw 
boys run along the street with clubs in their hands, encourag- 
ing one another to fight, I began to mistrust what was in- 
tended; and, hasting towards the town-dock, I soon saw men 
running for their arms: but, ere I got to the Red Lion,^ I 
was told that Captain George and the master of the frigate 
was seized, and secured in Mr. Colman's house^ at the North 
End;^ and, when I came to the town-dock, I understood that 
Boolifant and some others with him were laid hold of; and 
then immediately the drums began to beat, and the people 

1 The Declaration printed above, pp. 175-182. 

2 The Red Lion Inn was upon the southeast declivity of Copp's Hill, at the 
extreme northern part of the North End. It was not far from the Old North 
Church, the church of the Mathers, who lived near by. 

3 The house of William Colman, merchant, the father of Rev. Benjamin 
Colman, afterward the pastor of the Brattle Street Church. 

* The North End was that portion of old Boston lying north of a line drawn 
from the Long Wharf along what is now State Street to the present Tremont 
Street and Scollay Square. It included the custom-house, the court-house and 
jail, the town house, the markets, two churches, and the houses of many of the 
most prominent citizens. 

The South End lay below State Street toward the Fort, and was composed 
of lanes and open country. The Old South Church and King's Chapel lay nearly 
on the dividing line, but south of State Street and Prison Lane. 

186 



1689] LETTER OF SAMUEL PRINCE 187 

hasting and running, some with and some for arms, Young 
Dudley^ and Colonel Lidgit with some difficulty attained to 
the Fort. And, as I am informed, the poor boy cried very 
much; whom the Governor sent immediately on an errand, 
to request the four ministers, Mr. Joylife,^ and one or two 
more, to come to him at the Fort, pretending that by them he 
might still the people, not thinking it safe for him at that 
time to come to them ; and they returned him the like answer. 
Now, by this time, all the persons whom they concluded not 
to be for their side were seized and secured, except some few 
that had hid themselves; which afterwards were found, and 
dealt by as the rest. The Governor, with Palmer, Randolph, 
Lidgit, West, and one or two more, were in the Fort.^ All the 
companies were soon rallied together at the Town House, 
where assembled Captain Wintroup,^ Shrimpton,^ Page,^ and 

* Probably Paul Dudley, prominent in the later history of the colony. 
Randolph reported that in July, 1686, Joseph Dudley turned out the clerk of 
the county court to put in his son, then only sixteen years old (Toppan, Ran- 
dolph, IV. 92). If Randolph's statement is to be trusted, Paul Dudley was born 
in 1670, not in 1675, as is usually stated. As Paul was appointed "a scholar of 
the house" at Harvard in 1686, it is likely that Randolph is correct, since 
entering college at eleven and graduating at fifteen would have been unusual 
even in those days. 

2 John Joyliffe was recorder, treasurer, and selectman of the town of Boston. 
He died in 1701, blind and infirm. 

» By the Fort is meant the fortification on Fort Hill, where Fort Hill Square 
now is. The hill even then had been partly levelled. This important place 
was the centre of the uprising of April 18. It included the fort and a battery 
or sconce that formed an outwork of it on the waterside. Andros in 1687 erected 
there a "palisade fort of four bastions, with a house for lodging the garrison, 
which is much wanted, till a really fitting fortification can be built" {Cat. St. P. 
Col., 1685-1688, §§ 1534, 1536). Here on April 18 Andros, Randolph, and others 
took refuge, but were surrounded by the militia, as the narrative states. 

* Major-General Wait Winthrop was the youngest son of John Winthrop, jr., 
governor of Connecticut, and during his early years was an active participant 
in the military and civil service of that colony. About 1676 he came to Boston, 
served under Dudley and Andros, after 1689 became head of the militia, and in 
1690, when he was forty-six years old, was commissioned major-general. 

^ Colonel Samuel Shrimpton was a prominent landowner, the possessor of 
Noddle's Island, now East Boston, and a prominent merchant with a large ware- 
house near the Town Dock. He was also the proprietor of the Royal Exchange 
Inn. 

* Colonel Nicholas Paige, captain and colonel of artillery, was a merchant, 
and a member of the Anglican church in Boston. 



188 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

many other substantial men, to consult of matters; in which 
time the old Governor^ came among them, at whose appear- 
ance there was a great shout by the soldiers. 

Soon after, the king's jack was set up at the Fort, and a 
pair of colors at Beacon Hill: which gave notice to some 
thousands of soldiers on Charlestown side that the contro- 
versy was now to be ended; and multitudes would have been 
there, but that there was no need. The frigate, upon the 
tidings of the news, put out all her flags and pennants, and 
opened all her ports, and with all speed made ready for fight, 
under the command of the lieutenant — swearing that he would 
die before she should be taken; although the captain sent to 
him, that if he shot one shoot, or did any hurt, they would 
kill him, whom they had already seized. But he, not regarding 
that, continued under those resolutions all that day. Now, 
about four of clock in the afternoon, orders were given to go 
and demand the Fort; which hour the soldiers thought long 
for : and, had it not been just at that nick, the Governor and 
all the crew had made their escape on board the frigate — a 
barge being sent for them. But the soldiers, being so near, got 
the barge. The army divided, and part came up on the back 
side of the Fort, and part went underneath the hill to the 
lower battery, or sconce, where the red-coats^ were; who, 
immediately upon their approach, retired up the Fort to their 
master, who rebuked them for not firing at our soldiers, and, 
as I am informed, beat some of them. One of them, being a 
Dutchman, said to him, " What the Devil should I fight against 
a tousand men?" and so ran into the house. 

When the soldiers came to the battery, or sconce, they 
presently turned the great guns about, and mounted them 
against the Fort, which did much daunt all those within; 
and were so void of fear, that I presume, had they within 
the Fort been resolute to have lost their lives in fight, they 
might have killed an hundred of us at once — being so thick 
together before the mouths of their cannons at the Fort, all 
loaden with small shot: but God prevented it. Then they 
demanded a surrender; which was denied them till Mr. West 
and another should first go to the Council, and, after their 
return, we should have an answer whether to fight or no. 

^ Simon Bradstreet; see above, p. 170, note 3. "^ British regulars. 



1689] LETTER OF SAMUEL PRINCE 189 

And accordingly they did : and, upon their return, they came 
forth, and went disarmed to the Town House; and from thence, 
some to the close jail, and he under a guard in Mr. Usher's 
house. The next day, they sent the two colonels^ to demand 
of him a surrender of the Castle,^ which he resolved not to 
give: but they told him, if he would not give it presently 
under hand and seal, that he must expect to be delivered up 
to the rage of the people, who doubtless would put him to 
death; so leaving him. But he sent and told them that he 
would, and did so; and so they went down, and it was sur- 
rendered to them with cursing. So they brought them away, 
and made Captain Fairwether commander in it. Now, by 
this time that the men came back from the Castle, all the 
guns, both in ships and batteries, were brought to bear against 
the frigate — which were enough to have shattered her to 
pieces at once — resolving to have her. But as it is incident 
to corrupt nature to lay the blame of our evil deeds anywhere 
rather than on ourselves, so Captain George casts all the 
blame now upon that devil Randolph;^ for, had it not been 
for him, he had never troubled this good people. So, ear- 
nestly soliciting that he might not be constrained to surrender 

^ Probably Colonels Shrimpton and Paige. 

* The Castle was the fort on the hill of Castle Island, in the harbor three 
miles from the town. This island had first been fortified in 1634, when the col- 
ony feared attack from England (Winthrop, History, I. 130, ed. in this series). 
Wait Winthrop was placed in charge in 1686 by Dudley and the council. Andros, 
after his arrival, built a new fort, with new batteries at the bottom of the hill, 
and appointed Colonel John Pipon to command. After the revolt Captain 
John Fairweather took Pipon's place. In 1703 the fortification was recon- 
structed and a new fort, called Castle William, was built by Colonel Wolfgang 
Romer. 

' Edward Randolph was commissioned collector, surveyor, and searcher of 
customs in New England in 1678, the first royal official in the colony. To him 
more than to any one else did Massachusetts Bay owe the loss of her charter 
in 1684. He was appointed secretary of the new government in 1686, and he 
remained in the colony till he was sent back to England in 1690. He was a 
zealous and hard-working servant of the crown, who tried to do his duty as he 
saw it, but he was constitutionally incapable of seeing any other point of view 
than his own. He was a persistent office-seeker, and always in financial diffi- 
culties, and died poor. He was honest, but tactless and unsympathetic, and the 
people of New England thoroughly hated him. The publication of his corre- 
spondence by the Prince Society (in seven volumes) has thrown a flood of light 
on New England history of this period. 



190 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

the ship — for, by so doing, both himself and all his men should 
lose their wages, which otherwise would be recovered in Eng- 
land — giving leave to go on board, and strike the topmasts, 
close up the ports, and bring the sails ashore; and so they 
did. The country people came armed into the town in the 
afternoon, in such rage and heat, that it made us all tremble 
to think what would follow: for nothing would pacify them 
but he must be bound in chains or cords, and put in a more 
secure place ;^ and that they would see done ere they went 
away, or else they would tear down the house where he was 
to the ground. And so, to satisfy them, he was guarded by 
them to the Fort. And I fear whether or no the matter of 
settling things under a new Government may not prove far 
more difficult than the getting from under the power of the 
former, except the Lord eminently appear in calming and 
quieting the disturbed spirits of people, whose duty certainly 
now is to condescend, comply, and every way study for peace. 
So prays the assured well-willer to New England's happiness, 

S. P. 

Counsellor Clark^ writ a very grateful letter to Mr. Bulli- 
fant, intimating what a faithful friend he had been to said 
Bullifant, and withal desiring said Bullifant, that if there 
should news come out of England of a change, which he 
hoped in God it never would (as to Government), that said 
Bullifant would do him the favor as to send him word with 
expedition, that so he might make his escape, living so danger- 
ously in the midst of his enemies, who were even ready to 
devour him; and the merchants have gotten this pamphlet, 
and resolve forthwith to print it. — Farewell ! 

1 The jail stood behind the court-house on Court Street, not far from the 
present Old State House. 

* Nathaniel Clark; see above, p. 175, note 2. 



A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE LATE 
REVOLUTION, 1689 



INTRODUCTION 

After the uprising of April 18, Randolph was lodged in 
the common jail, whence during the months from May to 
October he succeeded in despatching by private hands letters 
to various people, official and otherwise, and in return received 
replies through the hands of George Monck, landlord of the 
Blue Anchor Tavern. Among those to whom he wrote letters 
at considerable length were Sir Richard Button, Governor of 
Barbadoes, Doctor William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, Doctor Henry Compton, Bishop of London, Francis 
Nicholson, the Marquis of Halifax, the Lord Privy Seal, 
William Blathwayt, and the Lords of Trade. 

When, toward the end of May, Rev. Robert Ratcliffe, the 
first rector of King's Chapel, after a somewhat stormy resi- 
dence of three years in the colony, decided to return to En- 
gland to solicit aid for the Anglican church in Boston, Ran- 
dolph gave him a letter of recommendation to the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, and intrusted him with the delivery of letters 
and papers to the archbishop, the Marquis of Halifax, William 
Blathwayt, and the Bishop of London. In his letter to the 
archbishop he says at the close, "of this Mr. Ratcliffe can 
give your Grace a good account." 

Among the papers in the Lambeth Palace Library is one 
entitled "A Particular Account of the Late Revolution at 
Boston in the Colony and Province of Massachusetts." This 
manuscript was printed by Bishop Perry in his Historical 
Collections relating to the American Colonial Church, I. 53-64, 
but the name of the author is there declared to be "unknown." 
Lewis in his History of Lynn believes that the writer was 
Randolph, and there is something to be said in favor of that 

193 



194 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

view. But a critical comparison of the text with the letters 
and narratives written by Randolph at the time discloses such 
marked differences of style and phraseology as to render it 
impossible that the account should be from Randolph's pen. 
The manuscript is not in Randolph's handwriting, a matter 
of little importance as it may be a copy. Of more positive 
value in determining the authorship is the fact that the writer 
was familiar with Byfield's Narrative. Randolph could not 
have seen this work, either in manuscript or in print, as it was 
despatched from Rhode Island and was not printed until 
June, at which time Randolph was in jail. 

The writer of the Particular Account may have been Rat- 
cliffe, though there is no certain and direct evidence connect- 
ing him with the authorship. He went to England in July 
and probably saw Byfield's Narrative after his arrival. The 
work shows a good deal of clerical animosity in its references 
to the "preachers," to "one Sheapherd; Teacher of Lynn," 
and to the "Professors of the greatest sanctity." Ratcliffe 
had suffered at the hands of the preachers of Boston. Inti- 
mate association with the Anglican church and communion 
in Boston appears from the frequent references to the Church 
of England men as the sufferers by the uprising and to the 
Anglican chapel as the object of abuse and attack. That the 
"Papists" were allowed to go free and the Anglicans impris- 
oned would naturally rankle in the mind of the rector, while 
the "tender kindness" of the Boston people to the Church of 
England was not a thing easy for the head of the flock to 
forget. 

The account was written by one who had "certain knowl- 
edge" of the course of events, who was familiar with the 
individuals connected with the revolution, and who was able 
to add of his own knowledge to that which is contained in 
the other narratives. The comment " In like manner Shrimp- 
ton showed himself Shrimpton" might well represent the re- 



INTRODUCTION 195 

lation which Ratcliffe had with one of his own congregation, 
who proved a lukewarm supporter in time of need. If Rat- 
cliffe was the writer, it is not impossible that Randolph fur- 
nished information for use in the narrative. The facts regard- 
ing Andros's expedition and the case of Shepard of Lynn, 
with both of which Randolph was familiar, may have come 
from him. 

The manuscript was acquired by the Lambeth Palace 
Library at some time between 1720 and 1763, possibly in the 
time of Archbishop Seeker, who added greatly to the collec- 
tions there. It is bound up in a volume of miscellaneous 
papers, and consists of twenty pages, eighteen of which con- 
tain the text. The work is well written throughout and is in 
excellent condition. 



A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE LATE 
REVOLUTION, 1689 

A Particular Account of the late Revolution at Boston in the 
Colony and Province of Massachusetts. 

This Revolution making a great noise in the world, and 
being variously reported, I shall with all Sincerity endeavor 
to give a brief account thereof. 

Who should have thought that in a land of Righteousness 
(as the Massachusetts would be accounted), Men should work 
wickedness and that Professors of the greatest sanctity should 
have anjrthing to doe with Plots and Conspiracys; yet, alas! 
this wild design I must lay at the doors of the Preachers and 
their Adherents, and it is too notorious, that some who had 
sworn to maintaine the Governm't and discover all Plotts 
and Conspiracys against the same ought to bee reckoned 
amongst the Principall Conspirators. For this was not a 
sudden heat, or violent passion of the Rabble, but a long con- 
trived piece of wickedness. A great while travailed they in 
Mischief, ere that detestable Monster came forth. ' 

Some few Strugglings it made in January, but two things 
prevented the birth : the first was the Governour's longer 
stay to the Eastward than they expected, to prevent the in- 
cui-sions of the Indians, and reduce them to their former 
obedience. Whilst we^ in the Sharpest Season of Winter 
was endeavouring their Safety and preservation, they in 
Boston were Contriveing the Subversion of the Government 
and the ruin of the Governour, and with his, the ruine of the 
best part of the Colony. The other was this: The People 
were not fitted for the faction, in order therefore to prepare 

^The contrast between "we" and "they" does not indicate that the writer 
had accompanied Andros on his expedition. It marks merely the distinction 
between the Anglican party and the insurgent colonials. 

196 



1689] A PARTICULAK ACCOUNT 197 

their minds, and draw the ignorant Multitude after them, 
they scattered abroad many fooHsh and nonsensicall storys, 
and pretended wonderfull discoveries of horrid Plotts against 
the Country, Ubells alsoe were carried up and down against 
the Governm't and those in Authority, — how the Governour 
had confederated with the freemen [French?], Mohoques and 
other Indians to destroy the Colony and cut off the People. 
For the confirmation of this, a report was spread abroad of 
an Indian, whose heart smote him (as the Phrase was), and 
who confessed the design and for his part he would not joine 
in it. The English had done him noe hurt, neither would hee 
doe them any mischief. With these and the like false storys 
the Country was miserably distracted, and when any came to 
Town, some secretly told them the same things and others 
shook their heads and made ugly faces, whereby they con- 
cluded all to bee true, which was reported amongst them : So 
that it was but sounding a Trumpett or beating a Drum, and 
the Majority of the People was ready to rise against the Gov- 
ernour, who, as they were made to believe, was the great 
Enemy of the Country. 

And that there might be an universall hatred against him, 
it was whispered about, that the Governour had drawn all the 
Youth of the Country to the Eastward, on purpose to destroy 
them, that all the rum they drank was poisoned, and when 
any were sick, he commanded his Doctor to despatch them. 
That the Indian war was but a sham, for hee design'd noe evil 
to the Indians, but the destruction of the Country. That he 
admitted the Squaws dayly to him; or else he went out and 
lodged with them, that noe Soldier durst kill an Indian be- 
cause the Governour had given positive orders to the Con- 
trary. 

Whereas never could Man do more to reduce the Indians 
to obedience or show greater kindness to the Soldiers. These 
all publickly declared at their return, that hee was a father 
unto them and took care that they had what was necessary 
and convenient for them in their Sickness, visited them in 
their marquees, went to every marquee, tent or lodging, and 
if he found them uncovered, would cover them, if he found 
them sleeping with their knee strings bound, would untie 
them himself, that all the time he was amongst them hee 



198 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

never spared any labor or paines, but in all things behaved 
himself among them like a tender Father in his family. 

His prudence against the Enemy was admirable, for he 
soe covered the Country that the Indians were not able to 
doe any considerable mischief to the Inhabitants, likewise 
he blockaded all the Rivers, whereby the Indians were pre- 
vented from fishing and hunting; besides all this he routed 
them out of their forts and strongholds, whither they con- 
cluded the English could never come, took from them their 
Stores, many bushels of Indian Corn, their powder, some 
pistols and Musquet barrels and about thirty of their Canons, 
whereby they were reduced to very great poverty and forct 
to the use of their bows and arrows again, soe that in a little 
time they must have rendered themselves to his Mercy, or 
else have perished for lack of bread and provisions, for the 
French, if they had the will, yet were not in a possibility to 
relieve their urgent necessitys, being plundered of all their 
Stores by the Privateers and as necessitous as the Indians. 
So that in all probability that troublesome war was drawing 
near to a fair conclusion. 

But in this juncture some of the Bostoners^ understanding 
the wants of the Enemy and knowing how to make their ad- 
vantage of such a time, when for goods and provisions they 
could make what returns pleased them best, loaded Vessels 
with Ammunition and provisions, cleared them for Bermudas 
and other parts, but sent them to the Eastward amongst the 
French and Indians, and supplied them with all such things 
as they wanted, whereby they put weapons in the Enemy's 
hand to destroy hundreds of the King's Subjects and lay the 
whole Coimtry desolate. 

There are Men now in Town, that can name some of the 
Bostoners who were so damnably treacherous and wicked, 
yet are reputed great Patriots of the Country and Restorers 
of English Liberties and Privileges. 

The tales and Scandalous Storys answered the end for which 

^ The Bostoners here referred to are David Waterhouse and John Foster, 
whose trading activities among the Indians are frequently mentioned in the con- 
temporary correspondence (below, pp. 209, 263) and are specially commented on 
later in this narrative. With them may be classed George Alden, whom Randolph 
calls "a great trader with the eastern French" (Goodrick, Randolph, VI. 294). 



1689] A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT 199 

they were invented, and highly inraged the minds of the Peo- 
ple against the Governour, insomuch that on his return they 
were so far from welcoming him home for his good Services, 
that they were rather for tearing him in pieces. 

However lest the design should be abortive, the Heads of 
the Faction thought it necessary to conceal their Mischief, 
before they had made triall how ready the People would bee 
for their Service when called to Action. 

In order to do this a false alarum is made in the Town, 
that a body of Indians was at Spiepondf three miles distant 
from Boston : Therefore what should they doe ? All to Arms 
without acquainting Governour, Colonell, or Captaine, but 
presently tideings came, there were only six poor Indians a 
fishing and there was no danger at all; whereupon all was 
husht, and every one retired to his own house. This gave the 
heads of the Conspiracy a perfect demonstration of the fro- 
wardness of the people. 

Hitherto the accursed embryo moved onely in the womb. 
That it might exceed all other Monsters, it was thought ad- 
visable, that it should have not only claws, and teeth and 
bristles, but alsoe come into the world speaking malicious 
words, notorious lies, and reproachfull slanders, which could 
not bee in a more taking manner than by way of a Declara- 
tion, which cost much time and no less paines ere it could 
bee adapted in any tolerable manner for the mouth of the 
Speaker. 

At length comes the 18**^ of Aprill, the fatal day wherein 
the Monster was brought forth, and if ever any of that kind 
forebode evils and calamities this portended noe less than 
war, fire, surprise, murder, ruine, and devastation of the 
Country. 

Many hands were ready for the Midwifery, as always the 
Multitude is prone to doe mischief. 

About nine in the morning, Green,^ a Ship Carpenter, 
with some others of the Same profession, basely and cowardly 

^ Spy Pond was near Watertown (Cambridge). The lands that Randolph 
tried to obtain lay between Spy Pond and Sanders Brook. 

^ Captain George gives the name of the ship carpenter as Robert Small, 
but as the text mentions others of "the same profession," there is probably no 
contradiction. 



200 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

seiz'd Captaine George, Commander of the Rose Frigat, just 
as he came on Shoar about some matters relating to his Ship, 
which immediately alarmed the whole Town. The Sheriff/ 
hearing the tumult, went to appease the Multitude, whom they 
forthwith Secured. From him they goe to the Major^ of the 
Regiment and demanded his Colours and Drums, who chec't 
their Insolence and they threatened to shoot him down and 
forcing themselves into his house obtained at length their 
demands and confined him prisoner setting Guards before the 
doors. By this time numbers were gathered together and 
formed themselves into companys, w'ch were commanded by 
Nelson, Waterhouse, Foster and others. About ten they were 
come to the middle of the Town, where they seized Justice 
Bullivant, Justice Foxcroft, Captain Ravenscroft, and after 
sometime forc't themselves into Captain White's house whom 
also they apprehended and with the former conveyed to the 
prison doors, which they found Shut and the Gaoler would 
by no means give them admission, whereupon they forc't 
open the doors, set at liberty those who were in upon execu- 
tion for debt, and also a Crew of Privateers^ who were im- 
prisoned for Piracy and Murder, made a new keeper, committed 
those Gentlemen with many others to his charge, and that 
they might bee in safe custody set a guard of Musqueteers to 
prevent all escapes. By eleven, having secured most of the 
Church of England (who were the only persons sought for), 
except some few, who were gone to the Governour in the fort, 
they went to the Council House, and there read the false and 
slanderous declaration, which had been contradicted in every 
paper since published, and backt that with a proclamation, 
that every man should appear in arms on the greatest penalty. 
Some they forc't to goe with them, others they left to this 
choice : Either bear arms, or go to gaol. Many for fear bore 
arms, which detested the action, those who would not joine 
with them were sent to the Prison. 

About 2 in the afternoon the Chiefs of the Conspiracy 

* Sherlock. 

'^ Lieutenant Treffry. 

3 The leader of this "crew of privateers" was Tom Pounds. For an account 
of the crew, their careers, and their fate, see The Andros Tracts, II. 54-55, and 
Drake, History of Boston, p. 490. 



1689] A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT 201 

(prevailing with some easy and good natured persons to sub- 
scribe their names for Company), sent a summons^ to the Gov- 
ernour in the style of Kings' Ourselves, telling lies in hypochrisy, 
that they knew nothing of the people's takeing to arms, which 
was a perfect contradiction to the Declaration and the knowl- 
edge of the leading Men of the faction. For Dr. Winthrop,^ 
whom all along they confided in and design'd for their Gen- 
erall, had bin with the conspirators of the North end very 
early that Morning, to whom the intentions of the people 
were very well known, but when the uproar was made, and 
they came to his house requesting Him to bee their Com- 
mander and lead them, with abundance of Modesty and no 
less hypochrisy refused the offer. But at length pretending 
he was wearied with their importunity's, and to doe the Gov- 
ernour a signall kindness, he condescended to accept of the 
office, and walk'd before them. 

In like manner Shrimp ton shewed himself Shrimpton. 
When the Goverment sent for Him in the beginning of the 
Tumult, the good Man was not at home, but gone over to his 
Island;^ yet all the while was within the walls of his house, 
had true intelligence how the number increased, and when 
they entred the Town house, was pleased very bodily to appeare 
amongst them, and make one of their Council. 

The Governour, haveing received the Summons from the 
Conspirators, consulted these Gentlemen that were with Him 
(who saw the miserable circumstances they were in, for by 
this time the rabble headed by their new Captains had drawn 
themselves round the fort). It was thought advisable to over- 
look all the others and regard only the names of the Council- 
lours, who were appointed that very day to meet his excellency 
the Governour at the Town house; so that the answer was to 
this effect : Seeing the Gentlemen of the Council were assem- 
bled, the Governour would meet them according to appoint- 
ment. 

Pursuant to which, leaving the command of the Fort with 

1 This summons is printed above, p. 182; the Declaration is on pp. 175-182. 

2 He had studied medicine and practised it. 

3 Either Noddle's Island (East Boston), which Shrimpton bought from Sir 
Thomas Temple in 1670, or Deer Island, which he leased from the town of Boston. 
Probably the latter. 



202 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

Captaine Treffey/ the Governour, attended by Mr. Ran- 
dolph, Mr. Palmer, Mr. West, Mr. Graham, and Mr. Lydgett 
goes to the Town house. At the door the Governour was 
received into Custody by Captain Townsend,^ who very 
officiously led them up to the Council Chamber, forbidding 
the other Gentlemen to attend him any farther. The Gov- 
ernour was no sooner entred, but he was smartly check't and 
reprimanded by some of his own councill. And whilst he was 
despitefully treated above, the Gentlemen below, who came 
with him, had their swords taken from them, and were made 
the Sport of the Multitude. At length they were also com- 
manded up to be the objects of the Council's rage and fury. 
Shrimpton abused Mr. Graham and Mr. West in the grossest 
manner, and all their mouths were opened against Mr. Ran- 
dolph for being soe instrumentall in condemning their charter 
and making West his Deputy, who answered it was not he 
but they themselves that destroyed the charter, for he only told 
what they acted. As to the disposall of his office, they ought 
not to bee angry thereat, for none was a looser but himself. 

After much talk, the Conspirators (who were pleased to 
call themselves the Council of Safety),^ told them they were 
prisoners and demanded the Governour to give orders for the 
Surrender of the fort, who told them as a prisoner he could 
not give orders, but if Mr. Randolph pleased, he might goe 
and acquaint Captain Trefry with his circumstances. Mr. 
Randolph accepted that employm't; but on his way to the 
Fort, the Rabble resisted him and some of them threatened 
to wash their hands in his heart's blood. Not long after the 
Rabble entered the Fort without opposition, and carried away 
Captain Trefry prisoner to the Councill, and Nelson was ap- 
pointed Commander thereof. On this they ordered the Gov- 
ernour and the other Gentlemen to withdraw to Mr. Usher's 
till they had further considered of Matters. Thither they 
come, guarded with a full company of Musqueteers, and for 

^ Lieutenant Treffry. 

2 Captain Penn Townsend, a prominent resident of Boston, who was at the 
head of one of the companies of militia, represented Boston in the General Court 
from June, 16S9, to May, 1692, and was speaker, October, 1689-May, 1690, 
and again in May, 1692 (Mass. Hist. Soc., Collections, third series, IV. 289-292). 

3 For the Council of Safety, see below, p. 216, note 2. 



1689] A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT 203 

the prevention of escapes, Foster was for placing Sentinells 
on the top of the house that the Prisoners might not run over 
the walls. 

They had not bin long in the house till Waterhouse, an- 
other young Captain, came to order them to several prisons. 
That house was appointed for the Governour, the Common 
Gaol for Mr. Randolph and the Fort for the other Gentle- 
man. 

So passed away the 18th of Aprill. Nothing happened 
that night worthy of remark, but the Captain to shew his 
extraordinary care of the Governour came with a Guard of 
Soldiers to visit him in his Chamber, where he happened to 
be then in his bed. The Captain understanding this, and 
desiring to bee sure, would needs see the Governour's face to 
know whether Hee was really in bed or noe, and that he might 
not run from him and his guards, was for securing his stockings 
and shoes. 

The next day the violence of the people increased and 
nothing would serve the Heads of the Faction but the posses- 
sion of the Rose Frigat, and Castle. The ship upon demand 
was delivered by the Lieutenant, and immediatly stript of 
her sails; but the Castle caused them noe little trouble, for 
Ensign Fipon would not surrender it without an order from 
his Superiour Officer. It was therefore resolved, that they 
would storm it, and endeavour'd to take it by force. To this 
end many Boats and other small vessels were prepared for the 
transportation of soldiers, who had certainly done and suffered 
great mischief, had not Captain Trefry at the request of the 
pretended CounciU of Safety gone down with advice from the 
Governour to the Ensign; who thereupon followed such mea- 
sures as the present necessity required. Soe the Castle was 
delivered and Pipon brought up, and clapt among the pris- 
oners in the fort. 

This seemed to please the People and all things were in 
great quiet. But alas ! this was but like a short calm before 
a destroying hurricane, for about eleven the Country came 
in headed by one Sheapherd,^ Teacher of Lynn, who were like 

^ Rev. Jeremiah Shepard was born in 1648, and after a pastorate at Rowley 
removed to Lynn. He was of great severity and sombreness of character, and 
frequently in trouble with his congregations. "His dark and melancholy views 



204 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

soe many wild bears and the leader mad with passion, or 
rather dnmk with Brandy, more savage than any of the fol- 
lowers. All the cry was against the Governom- and Mr. Ran- 
dolph. The Governour they would have dehvered into their 
hands or secured in the fort, otherwise they would pull down 
the house about his Eares and tear him in pieces. 

This scared the pretended Councill of Safety, for they 
were like young conjurers, who had raised a Devil they could 
not govern. Away they come trembling to the Governour, 
and told him the violence of the people and his present danger. 
To whom he replied with a smiling countenance, they should 
not bee so much concern'd for him, but rather pity themselves, 
their wives and children, their posterity and Country, for they 
might assure themselves, there must be an account of that 
day's uproar, adding withall that whilst he had the Govemm't 
none of them suffered in person, or Estate, and if they had 
raised the Rabble, which they could not govern, it behoved 
them to look to it. Whereupon they desired him to goe to 
the fort, who answered, he was their prisoner, and must goe 
whither they would carry him, and could freely goe at the 
head of those who (as they said) were so extremely mad against 
him. 

At their desires, tho' sick in bed, he gets up and goes along 
with them to the Fort, but instead of that outrage w'ch was 
pretended, not one of the whole rout opened his mouth against 
him. 

This done, and Mr. West, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Graham, and 
Mr. Trefry sent down Prisoners to the Castle, away goe the 
Country people to their respective homes, and our Councill 
of Safety take the management of Governm't to themselves, 
of which, that they might shew how well they deserved the 
name, they first of all recalled all the forces from the East- 
ward, and left the poor Inhabitants to the severity and cruelty 
of the Indians, who a little after came down upon them, de- 
stroyed the cattle, plundered and burnt the houses, killed 
many and carried others into Captivity. Next they sent 



of human nature tended greatly to contract the circle of his usefulness" (Sibley, 
Harvard Graduates, II. 267-276). For the grievance of the town of Lynn against 
Randolph, see Toppan, Randolph, IV. 201, 202, 205. 



1689] A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT 205 

some considerable men to Pemaquid ^ and those parts, which 
are far beyond the limits of their Commonwealth, to seize on 
the Officers of the Army, where, by tampering with and cor- 
rupting the Soldiers, at length they accomplished their design 
and barbarously treated them, tied their hands behind their 
backs, brought them as the vilest malefactors to Boston, and 
immediately committed them to Gaol which was all the thanks 
they had for their winter's labor and service against the Indians. 

On this some of the poor Inhabitants out of the Country 
came to the Councill and petitioned for Succours, otherwise 
they and their Familys were inevitably ruined; but the Pa- 
triots were not at leisure to commiserate their condition, and 
grant their requests. The next news from those parts gave 
an account of miserable devastations and ever Since all the 
posts from the Eastern Country have bin like Job's Messen- 
gers, bringers of Evill tidings. 

'Tis thought the Bostoners, out of policy, doe not take 
care to prevent these Mischiefs that they may the easier con- 
tinue the inhabitants their slaves and keep the Country in 
extreme poverty, for if rich men settle in those Parts, and the 
People grow great, they of Boston must of necessity bee low. 

These new Governours were hardly warm in their Seats, 
before the people were extreamely weary of them and their 
Govemm't, and therefore were for erecting a court martiall, 
or returning to the rules of the old charter. Which being 
promoted by the Preachers, was carried with a nemine Contra- 
dicente, so that many of the new upstart Dictators were turned 
off with a feather in their Caps; the thanks of the Country for 
their past services. 

Many alsoe dislikt Nelson's civility to the Govemour and 
were highly incens'd, that he permitted his friends to come 
and visit him. And besides this prevented two villains of the 

1 Pemaquid was a log fort near the mouth of the Damariscotta River, in 
Maine. At the head of the garrison was Major Anthony Brockholes, with 
Lieutenant Weems in charge of the regulars. The fort had been placed under 
New England by order of the council, June 20, 1686, when the county of Corn- 
wall, in which it lay, was removed from the jurisdiction of New York. The 
officers seized were Majors Brockholes and Lockhart, Captain Manning, and 
Ensign Smith. Lieutenant Macgregory and Lieutenant Jordan were taken by 
their own soldiers, charged with harshness and cruelty. 



206 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

Guard from their Bloody design of Murdering the Governour; 
insomuch that they cashired him from his office, and consti- 
tuted an old, sullen, morose, single eyed hypochrite,^ formerly 
a nun-punch maker to the privateers in Jamaica, Captaine in 
Nelson's place, who sometimes would not suffer the Gover- 
nour's servants to come near him, nor his Chaplain to visite 
him, but would search even his very dishes of Meat, lest there 
should be letters hid amongst them. 

Under this close confinem't the Governour laboured till at 
length the country, weary of the sport, would watch and guard 
no longer. Whereupon they resolved to send the Governour 
to the Castle,^ and turn West into the Common Gaol, and 
thereby ease themselves of any more watching at the Fort, 
which some would have immediately razed to the groimd, 
pursuant to which resolve the Governour was carried down to 
the Castle, and continues Prisoner in the Custody of Captaine 
Fairweather, who was very respectfull to him, gave him liberty 
to walk about the Island, on which the Castle is built, and 
freely admitted his friends to him; but of late there is come 
forth a peremptory Decree from the pretended Governour, 
that no Man shaU be allowed so much as to visite him, and the 
Captaine is commanded to straiten his liberty, otherwise they 
will Nelsonize him, and turn him out of Commission. 

Leaving the Governour, I shall shew what has become of 
the other Prisoners. Mr. White, Mr. Ravenscroft, with many 
others who were clapt up because they would not bear arms 
and guard the Governour, after five or six days unjust im- 
prisonment without any warrant, or colour of Law, they would 
have perswaded to steal (as it were) out of Gaol, paying only 
their fees, but they refused the kindness and were for standing 
a tryall, or else would goe out as publickly as they came in. 
Which at last was granted, after they had been cried about 
Town to know, whether any person had ought against them. 
Justice Foxcroft after a long time was admitted bail; Justice 
Bullivant, and Lt. Coll. Lydgett got out by giving bond for 
their appearance. Captaine Trefry and Ensign Pipon were 

1 1 cannot identify this picturesque gentleman who succeeded Nelson in 
command of the fort. 

^ Andros was sent to the Castle June 7. Captain Fairweather's account of 
his treatment of his prisoners is given in The Andros Tracts, I. 174-175. 



1689] A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT 207 

dismis't by beat of Drum. All the others continue close pris- 
oners, except two notorious and profest Papists, whom they 
freely dismis't and took care to convey them safe to their own 
homes. Only the poor Church of England Men continue 
Sufferers, and can find neither mercy nor common justice. 

Thus, Sir, you have a brief account of the detestable de- 
sign, which was conceived in malice, nourished by falsehood 
and lies, and brought forth in Tumult and Rebellion, every 
way odious and detestable. Yet I must add how ugly soever 
it appears to the world, not half soe horrid as some intended, 
and as it would most certainly have bin, had the least blood 
bin spilt in the Revolution. For one of the Preachers was for 
cutting the throats of all the Established Church and then 
(said he very religiously), wee shall never bee troubled with 
them again. Another seriously declared to a Gentl. in per- 
son, that if any blood had been spilt, they would have spared 
none of that Communion. "How," said the Gentleman, 
"what if a soldier should get drunk, quarrel and fight, must 
all have Suffered?" The party made answer: "Had there 
bin any blood spilt, all of that Communion had Suffered." 
Others affirmed : "It was no more sin to kill such as they were, 
than to cut off a dog's neck." 

I shall presume to give you a signal instance of their ten- 
der kindness to the Church of England. On the 16th of May 
about four in the Morning there happened a fire^ at the 
North end of the Town which caused a great Tumult among 
the Inhabitants. A person of noe mean quality of that Com- 
munion, hearing a bustle in the street, opening the Casement 
looked out at the Window, which a Man full of gray hairs 
observing, immediately vented his rancour against the Church 
of England and reviled her Members, adding withall "This is 
one of their gang hath don the Mischief." Another said, 
"Wee shall never bee quiet whilst any of the Church of Eng- 
land are left amongst us." The widow woman, tenant in part 
of the house which was burnt, was of the same Communion, 
who in the time of the fire prayed the help of the people to 
save her goods; but received this Religious answer, "Hang 
the Popish whore, let her and her goods perish." Afterwards 

^ This fire of May 16 is referred to in Captain George's narrative, below, 
p. 218. 



208 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

there was a contribution made, and the Man whose house was 
burnt, had above an hundred pounds given him, but this poor 
woman, which was a Widow, had two small children and 
nothing to relieve herself withall, had not so much as a single 
penny of the whole collection. Here is charity, and such a 
spirit of Christianity as was never known in the whole world, 
but N. E. 

This is all, Sir, that occurs to my remembrance of the late 
Revolution at Boston, and I would not have any think mee 
partial in this narative, because I make no mention of the 
Governour's cruelty and wickedness, of his great furnace to 
torment the people in, and his dreadful mines (as some re- 
ported), to blow up the Town, as also of his endeavours to 
make his Escape, his passing two guards in womens apparell, 
but being at last discovered by his shoes (as the worthy Mr. 
Byfield reported). 

All which storys, Sir, have not the least foundation of Truth, 
and soe gross and palpable, that wise Men will not credit, and 
to undeceive the too credulous world (if willing to bee unde- 
ceived), I doe declare upon certaine knowledge, are falsehoods, 
and lies, the Inventions of wicked men spread abroad on pur- 
pose to render the Govemour odious to his people. Like these 
are many other aspersions, which are cast upon him, and 
therefore, I hope, will not bee entertained as Credible by sober 
and thinking persons, before they have firmer grounds for 
belief, than the words of some few angry and peevish animals, 
who, to gratifie their revenge, have learnt this property of the 
Devil, fortiter calumniari, and make no scruple to tell lies for 
advantage. 

Had the Govemour written after their Copy, taken direc- 
tions from the preachers, permitted the privateers to have their 
wonted resort amongst them, and allowed them freely to break 
the Acts of Trade, hee had bin the best of men, little less than 
a reputed God. For the prohibition of these irregularitys 
made his Government intolerable, which will bee plainly dem- 
onstrated from their words and practices since the revolt. 

Their discourse was much about their valour and great- 
ness, that now they were a free people, and should the Crown 
of England send them a Governour, they would not receive 
him. For they wanted not the assistance of England, neither 



1689] A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT 209 

had England any thing of dominion over them. They had 
got the Government by the sword, and they would keep it by 
the sword. If it should come to the worst, they could make 
it a free port and the Privateers would defend them. 

More villanys were committed in Six weeks after the Re- 
volt, than in the whole time of Sir Edmond's Governm't. 
Houses were frequently broken open and robb'd. Men set 
at liberty, who were imprisoned on Execution for debt, and 
known Pirates and Murderers freely discharged the goal. 
No man safe in person or Estate, noe relief for the greatest 
injury, or wrong. The Acts of trade were publickly broken, 
and boats loaden with hogsheads of Tobacco went up the River 
at noon-day. That they might not plead ignorance in the 
matter, one of the Gentlemen imprisoned in the Castle desired 
the Captaine to take notice of it. They sent vessells amongst 
the French and Indians with Ammunition and Provision, 
altho' in open hostility against us, who in all likelyhood have 
with the same powder and bulletts, which they bought of the 
Bostoners, killed many of their Majestys' Subjects and de- 
stroyed the best part of the Country. Fosters and Water- 
house's trading amongst them was the publick discourse of 
the Town, and that in little more than two months with a 
small bark they gained £500. Captaine Nicholson^ found 
another Bostoner trading amongst them, as he was on his 
voyage from New York. Two select Companys stole vessells, 
and went out a privateering, and a third was preparing. There 
was certaine intelligence that the first had done a great deal 
of Mischief, and pillaged vessells on the Coasts of Virginia. 

A Pirate lay just without the harbour between the Capes, 
and the Rose, Frigatt, would not be permitted to goe out and 
take him, or so much as to chase him away from the Coast. 
But the Man of War must lay in the Harbour like an old 
wreck stript of all her sails and apparell, altho' 20 Thousand 
pounds security was offered, and the Captaine not allowed so 
much as to command his Men, but the Pirate at liberty to 
doe what he listed with the ships on the Coasts. 

All this, Sir, is notoriously true, and I can further add many 
discoursed of sending Ships to Holland and Scotland, and 

1 Captain, afterward Colonel, Francis Nicholson was one of the best-known 
of the colonial governors. See below, p. 321, note 1. 



210 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

upon very credible information, there is lately arrived in Scot- 
land directly from Boston a vessel loaden with the enmnerated 
Commoditys of the Plantations. And if they shew themselves 
soe early, what may a Man judge, will be their actings, when 
they come to be warm in Governm't. Especially if it bee con- 
sidered, that those who are Lords paramount are the greatest 
offenders, and some of the chief in Government the very Men, 
which most notoriously break the Acts of Trade. 



LETTER OF CAPTAIN GEORGE TO PEPYS, 1689 



INTRODUCTION 

Captain John George, R. N., was in command of H. M. S. 
Rose, in which Randolph sailed from England, January 20, 
1686, reaching Boston, after a tedious voyage, on May 14. 
Though at first appearing to Randolph as a " very civil person," 
he soon gave the latter cause to change his opinion, and the 
later relations between the two men were anything but amicable. 
George seems to have combined with Dudley to share fees and 
perquisites that Randolph deemed legitimately his own, and 
he refused to aid the latter in enforcing the acts of trade or 
to go to the help of the northern colonies when menaced by 
the Indians. When on one occasion George did go out after 
pirates, Randolph reported that his frigate, though "the big- 
gest first rate," was so dull a sailer that all the pirates got 
away. 

From all accounts, George was a swaggering officer, of foul 
speech and coarse nature but not unlike many of those in the 
naval service of that time. He listened to Dudley and Andros 
but to no one else, and was abusive to Wharton, the judge 
of admiralty, to Randolph, and to Randolph's subordinates. 
His favorite threat was "to whip them raw," and his men 
must have been like him, for the council, whose orders he re- 
fused to take, once informed him that he must keep his sailors 
on board at night, since on account of their misdemeanors 
they would not be allowed on shore after dark. The picture 
that we get of Captain George is not attractive, though it 
must be remembered that the evidence is all ex parte. Still, 
in the main, facts uphold Randolph's charges. From 1686 to 
1689 the frigate remained in the harbor, anchored off the 

213 



214 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

water front a little way below the Fort, doing nothing. We 
are not surprised at the captain's complaint that "the worm 
had seized her and that she would not be able to continue 
upon this station without a very considerable repair." Never- 
theless, there is probably another side to the case, and it is 
certainly doubtful whether the charge of cowardice can be 
maintained. After the revolution, early in May, 1690, George 
sailed with the Rose to Piscataqua and rendered efficient ser- 
vice to the northern colonists in their defense against the In- 
dians. From there, on the 19th of the same month, he passed 
eastward to engage the French off Nova Scotia, and in an 
obstinate fight on the 24th with a French man-of-war, at 
"half musket shot" for two hours off Cape Sable, he was 
killed. 

The letter here printed was sent by George to Samuel 
Pepys, secretary to the Board of Admiralty, and by him des- 
patched to the Lords of Trade, where it was read August 10. 
With it were enclosed a proposal of sundry merchants for the 
restoration of the frigate to the command of the captain, 
and a copy of George's letter to the Council of Safety, making 
the same request. The original documents are to be found in 
the Public Record Office, C. 0. 5: 855 (15, 15 I, 15 II), and a 
letter-book copy is in C 0. 5 : 905. Abstracts are given in the 
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1689-1692, § 196, I., II. 



LETTER OF CAPTAIN GEORGE TO PEPYS, 1689 

Capt. George's Letter to the Admiralty.^ 

Rose at Boston N. England 

o. June the 12th 1689. 

Sir 

This is the first opportunity I have had of writeing to you 
since my last of the first of January ,2 which gave you a full 
account of the condition of his Ma'ts shipp Rose, by which I 
acquainted you that the worme had Seized her, and that she 
would not be able to continue upon this station, without a 
very considerable repaire : but since have not had the favour 
of a line from you nor^ [for] above Eighteen months before, 
except the Instructions for the regulateing of Salutes, which 
hath been punctually Observed.'* 

These last five months this place hath been fill'd with vari- 
ous reports of transactions in England, of the Prince of Orange's 
Landing, His Ma'tys goeing for France and there died. After 
which the Prince and Princess of Orange were proclaimed King 
and Queen of England, but no reasonable confirmation till 
the arrivall of Two shipps from London, the first the 26th, and 

1 This is the original letter. These words written at top in another hand. 

2 George's letter to Pepys, giving a full account of the condition of his 
vessel, does not appear to be extant. Dr. J. R. Tanner, who very kindly under- 
took the search for me, reports that he can find no trace of it among the Pepys 
Papers at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and that Mr, Perrin, librarian of the 
Admiralty, has likewise been unable to locate it at the Public Record Office, 
where other captains' letters of that year are preserved. 

3 Altered from "for"; the Lrctter Book copy has "for." 

* The regulations here referred to are dated June 22, 1688, and entitled "An 
Establishment touching Salutes by Guns to be from henceforth observed in his 
Ma'ys RoyaU Navy." A copy of this royal order is to be found in the Admiralty 
Library, MS. 30, and for a copy of it I am indebted to Dr. Tanner and Mr. Perrin. 
It contains fourteen sections and gives detailed directions regarding the salutes 
to be fired, in port and upon the high seas, between his Majesty's ships or when 
meeting foreign ships, upon occasion of the death of an officer, upon embarking 
or disembarking in foreign ports passengers of position or rank, or when cele- 
brating certain appointed anniversary days. The royal warrant is countersigned, 
"By his Maj'ts Command, S. Pepys." 

215 



216 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

the other the 29th of May, Sir Willm. Phipps coming in the 
latter, who brought severall procHmations put forth by their 
Ma'tys but before this confirmation, on the 18th of Aprill 
last, the People of this place and countrey pretending them- 
selves dissatisfied with the Government of Sir Edmond Andros, 
rose up in Arms, seiz'd me first, and run me into the common 
Goal, by the Instigation of Robert Small my Carpenter, who 
had Absented himself from his duty some days before^ and 
had been with the Rebells, and some hours after his Excell'ce 
coming dowTie to sitt in Councill ; pretending he had a Designe 
to deliver this Government to the French, and the said Car- 
penter spreading rumours among the People, that at least he 
intended to fire the Towne, at one end, and I at the other, 
and then with our Gunns from the Friggatt to beat downe the 
rest, and goe away in the smoake, designeing for France, w'ch 
doubtless will be thought unreasonable to beleive: The Fort 
being Surrounded with above Fifteen hundred men was Sur- 
rendred, at the same time my Carp'tr went downe to the 
Platforme and traversed severall Gunns against the Frigg't, 
and would have fired them, but was prevented by the people : 
he proposed severall ways of takeing or burning the shipp, but 
not Adherd to; The next day the Governour was committed 
prissoner to the Fort under strong Guards, and my Self to 
Coiril Shrimptons house, who was very kind to me in all this 
Affaire. 

The same day the Castle, about three miles below the towne, 
upon an Island, was Summoned and Surrendred. I was also 
sent for to the Councill of Safety- as they terme themselves, 

» On April 18, when the uprising took place in the town, a mutiny broke out 
on board the frigate. Randolph wrote in December, "Those that made them 
[the men of the Rose] mutiny before, are as ready as ever to do it again," and one 
Jervas Coppindale afterward stated that "when the news of the King's accession 
reached New England, Captain George intimated that he would carry the ship 
to France, which design was opposed by petitioner and several of the crew" 
(Cal. S. P. Col., 1689-1692, §§ 664, 674). 

2 The Council of Safety consisted of Wait Winthrop, Simon Bradstreet, 
William Stoughton, Samuel Shrimpton, Bartholomew Gedney, William Brown, 
Thomas Danforth, John Richards, Elisha Cooke, Isaac Addington, John Nelson, 
Adam Winthrop, Peter Sergeant, John Foster, David Waterhouse, James Russell, 
John Phillips, Penn Townsend, Joseph Lynde, John Joyliffe, Eliakim Hutchinson, 
Nathaniel Oliver, John Eyre, Jeremiah Dummer, William Johnson, John Haw- 
thorne, Andrew Belcher, Richard Sprague, James Parker, Dudley Bradstreet, 
Nathaniel Saltonstall, Richard Dummer, Robert Pike, John Smith, Edmund 



1689] LETTER OF CAPTAIN GEORGE 217 

consisting of the Cheife Gentl'n and Inhabitants of Boston, 
who demanded of me an order to the Leivet't^ for Surrendring 
the shipp, in answer to which I said it was not in my power 
being a prissoner, nor would I ever be brought to give any such 
order, and if I should the Lt., who in my Absence was com- 
mander and accountable for the shipp, would not Observe 
them. They told me my Commission was now of no force, 
and Urged me to take a Commis'n from them and serve the 
Countrey; I told them my Commis'n was still good till one 
from the Crowne of England made it Invalid, and that I 
would Accept of no Commission from them, nor did beleive they 
durst venture to give me One. They still persisted in theire 
resolutions of takeing the shipp by force, but I Advised them 
to the contrary, Assureing them there would be a great slaugh- 
ter before she could be taken. And that the Kings shipps never 
did surrender; I also told them If they would lett her ride 
quietly without molestation, there woiid be no danger from 
her, for the Lt. had no Orders to move from that place, nor 
would the shipp move till Advice from England: but while 
they were thus discourseing with me, they sent aboard Two 
or Three men who perswaded the Lt. and company, to strike 
Yards and Topmasts and declare for the Prince of Orange, 
w'ch was Immediately done, and presently after they Ac- 
quainted me of it and remanded me back to my Confinement. 
On the 22d of the same an order was sent on board from the 
sd Councill to the Lt. for the delevery of the sailes, which was 
accordingly executed, and now remaine in the custody of them : 
Nor was the Carpenter yet quiett, but procured a marshall to 
be sent on board from the Councill to demand severall men of 
the shipps company to come a-shoare, to Testifie against me, 
which being refused by the Lt. the Carpenter by severall 
messages sent on board and advised the men to come ashoare, 
if not with leave by force, for the Councill would take it kindly 
and would secure them theire wages; w'ch tooke with them 
and on the first of may at 4 in the morning they left the shipp 
and went to him, who by his devices and perswasions got them 

Quincy, William Bond, and Daniel Pierce, thirty-seven in all. The elder Brad- 
street was made president, Addington, secretary, and Wait Winthrop, commander 
of the militia. 

1 Lieutenant David Condon was second in command. In A Vindication 
of New England he is declared to be a Roman Catholic. 



218 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

to Signe to a paper intimateing my goeing to France without any 
ground at all, for I am sure it never entred into my thoughts, 
much less that I should take a resolution thereof, which paper 
was present'd by him to the Councill, and received with much 
favour on his side, nor could I gett a Coppy of what was 
Alleaged against me. I went to the Councill and told them 
the 111 That might happen to his Ma'tys shipp, by such dis- 
orders, and that the Kings Navy was Govern'd by an Estab- 
lisht Act of Parliament, and was wholy Independant from any 
Government ashoare, w'ch point they considering advised 
the men to goe on board againe and Submitt themselves to 
theire officers, which most of them easily complied with ex- 
cept the Carpenter and half a dozen more who still are in Re- 
bellion; On the 16th of may at 4 in the morning, hapned a 
fire at the North end of Boston and the report was spread by 
the sd Carpenter I had caused the Towne to be fired; and 
raised a great concourse of people which came to my Lodgeing, 
breakeing open the doors, rudely carrid me away and put me 
into the Fort prissoner, he at the same time sent two or three 
boats on board with Arm'd men, and fetch'd the Lt., Officers 
and men that Sided not with him on shoare, and carried them 
to the common Goal; where they lay Three days and then by 
the CouncUl's Order sent aboard againe, Since w'ch time the 
shipp hath been more easy. The Carpenter's designe in this 
last action was to gett a Commiss'n from the Councill to Com- 
mand the shipp; w'ch he declared was promis'd him of them. 
Two days after I was released againe from the Fort and tooke 
the oppertunity to acquaint the Councill that unless they 
Secured the Carpenter the Kings shipp could not be safe, but 
they Objected against it and said it could not be done. I 
have since been assisted by Coll'll Shrimpton in the moveing 
for the Sailes, but to no purpose. On the 7th Instant there 
was an Order sent on board to the Lt. requireing him to send 
Sixteen men on shoare to testifie against me, whose names 
were therein mentioned, which paper the Lt. sent to me de- 
sireing my direction. I sent him word, if I were aboard I 
could not answer parting with any on such demands from 
theire Ma'tys shipp. I then went up to the Government,^ 

1 The provisional government lasted until May 2, when a convention of 
representatives of the towns met and recommended that the old government be 
resumed. Elections were held, and on May 22 a regular representative assembly 



1689] LETTER OF CAPTAIN GEORGE 219 

for now they so terme themselves, and acquainted them I 
thought they would have rather return'd my Sailes then [than] 
expected what was formerly refused, upon which they told me 
I should not have my sailes till an Order from England. What 
they Intend to doe I know not, but threaten to have the shipp 
further dismantled, but I hope they will be prevented by 
Speedy Arrivall of Orders from Your hands to returne home. 
Sir, here is now rideing severall shipps, some bound for Lon- 
don and others for the West Indies, but durst not stirr because 
there are severall Piratts Attending their goeing out within 
Eight Leagues of this place, and severall of the Rose's men are 
runn away to them, which gave Occassion to the Merchants 
to present a paper to the Government, a Coppy of w'ch I heare 
inclose, but it availeing nothing, this afternoon I wroate a 
letter to them, a Coppy of w'ch also comes with this, but as 
yett cannot gaine an answer tho' very much urg'd by me, 
therefore must refer to the next opportunity w'ch may happen 
in a fortnight or Three weeks. In the meane time I subscribe 
my Self 

Sir, 

Your Honours most Obleiged humble servant 

Jo: George. 
The Gunner and Boatsw'n have both declined theire duty 
and obedience since these troubles. J. G. 

[Addressed :] For his Ma'tys Service. 
To the Hono'ble Sam'll Pepys Esqr., 
Secretary to the Admirallty. 
[Endorsed :] 
[1.] N England 

12 June 1689. 
Capt. Georges Leter to the 
Sec'ry of the Adm'lty. 
[2.] Read the 10 Aug : 1689. 

[3.] Entred liber 3d T .o. 

N England / P* ^'^^' 
B A 
P. 19. 

gathered. Executive control was placed in the hands of the same governor and 
magistrates that had been chosen in 1686, and that were in oflBce when the assem- 
bly dissolved on May 21 of that year. 



ANDROS'S REPORT OF HIS ADMINISTRATION, 

I 690-1 69 I 



INTRODUCTION TO NARRATIVES OF AN- 
DROS'S ADMINISTRATION, 1690-1691 

Few characters in American colonial history have been 
the subject of more bitter comment than has Sir Edmund 
Andros. Writers even to-day speak of him as an oppressor 
and a tyrant, of his administration as a time of usurpation 
and absolutism, and of his supporters as minions and hench- 
men. The vocabulary that does service in describing the 
Stuart regime in England also does service in describing the 
regime of Andros in Boston. But the time for unqualified 
denunciation is past. The writer who still employs the famil- 
iar formulae is merely repeating the epithets of contemporary 
chroniclers who wrote out of the bitterness of their hearts, con- 
demning the policy and methods of a government that was not 
of themselves. The system that Andros was called on to 
administer was by its very nature centralized, for it had as its 
object the consolidating of the resources of a wide territory 
in the interest of defense and the observance of the acts of 
trade. Andros did not originate the idea that found applica- 
tion in the "Dominion of New England," neither was it a 
special Stuart contrivance; it was a phase of English policy 
that continued to persist even after the Stuarts fell. Andros 
was merely the agent selected by the authorities in England 
to put the plan into execution. Our criticism of him must be 
limited to the manner in which he carried out his trust. 

From the point of view of the British government there 
was ample justification for the experiment. The decentralized 
system that prevailed in New England may have been bene- 

223 



224 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

ficial as a seed-ground for future democracy, but it was a 
failure as far as the commercial welfare of England was con- 
cerned. Massachusetts lost her charter in large part because 
of her persistent opposition to the imperial demands. The 
colonies wanted all the advantages of independence but they 
expected England to carry their burdens, and that, too, with 
only a minimiun of co-operation on their own part.^ When 
danger arose Massachusetts did not hesitate to apply to the 
king for aid and protection.^ To the Lords of Trade New 
England appeared to be, as it actually was, weak and in- 
eflScient. Consolidation meant strength, and strength was 
required if the laws were to be executed and the colonies pro- 
tected against attack. A single system, centralized and aggres- 
sive, was needed to take the place of the many scattered and 
loosely organized colonies that were seemingly jealous of each 
other and quarrelling among themselves, more concerned for 
rights and privileges than for duties and obligations. The 
Privy Council was naturally less interested in the political 
and religious independence that New England had enjoyed 
for half a century than it was in the imperative demands 
of the empire itself. 

Andros was sent over to establish a strong government. 
For this purpose he had many qualifications. He was a sol- 
dier and had had experience as an administrator. He was 
loyal, honorable, and energetic, and was not likely to betray 
the confidence vested in him. He was in the prime of life, 
forty-nine years old at the time of his arrival in the colony, 
and was physically competent for the task before him. Having 
been in New York as governor, he knew something of the 
conditions that confronted him in America; and, as we may 
well believe, was in full sympathy with the policy that he was 

^ Mather defends New England against this charge in his Vindication; 
see The Andros Tracts, II. 23-24. 

* Cal. St. P. Col, 1689-1692, §§ 797, 798, 802, 807. 



INTRODUCTION 225 

commissioned to carry out. At the same time, to one familiar 
with New England, its preachers and saints, he was not the 
best man for the place. He was imperious and impatient, and, 
as a discipHnarian, was more than likely to find fault with the 
New Englander's haphazard ways of doing things and to ride 
roughshod over traditions and prejudices that stood in the 
way of the work to be done. As a soldier, he was not fond of 
government by discussion. When it came to such questions 
as censorship of the press, marriage licenses, taking the oath, 
organizing justice, and determining titles to land, he would 
naturally conform to English law with little regard to previous 
practices in the colony; and in his devotion to the Church of 
England he was certain to raise an issue involving trouble. 
When it came to the actual business of administration he fa- 
vored Church of England men in his appointments to office, 
and called into service a number of New Yorkers whom he 
had known at the time of his residence there. Such men, 
though often able and efficient, were, as a rule, wanderers with- 
out local attachments and seekers of colonial offices; they could 
not but be offensive to the Puritans and their descendants 
who had founded in New England a permanent home. 

The first two accounts of the administration of Andros 
that are here printed represent very different points of view. 
The first, written by Andros himself and sent to the Lords of 
Trade after his return to England, lays stress upon those fea- 
tures that indicate the faithfulness with which he executed 
his commission. Andros told what he had done to carry out 
the task intrusted to him and so made clear to the Lords of 
Trade how far he was deserving of their confidence. That 
his statement was satisfactory is evident from the fact that he 
was acquitted by his superiors of all guilt. 

The second account, drawn up by five members of his 
council, contains a criticism of the manner in which he had 
performed his work, a matter regarding which Andros himself 



226 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

says nothing. Two of the councillors, Stoughton and Wait 
Winthrop, were present at nearly every one of the recorded 
ninety-four meetings; Gedney was present at nearly one third, 
and Hinckley at nearly as many; while Shrimpton, who en- 
tered the council at the end of its career, was present but seven 
times. These councillors complained that Andros ignored 
the greater number and governed with the advice of but few, 
many of whom were strangers to the colony; that he curtailed 
debate, overruled objections, and displayed extreme harshness 
in council meetings; that he ignored orders upon which the 
majority had agreed and put into execution others that the 
members had not voted on; that he caused meetings to be 
called unexpectedly and at times when distant members 
could not be present; and that he forced through measures 
which a majority of the members wished to defer for fuller 
discussion. 

Our attitude toward these complaints will depend some- 
what on our point of view. Discussion was not one of Andros's 
strong points, and we can perhaps imagine what his answer to 
the charges might be. Though the council records frequently 
bear witness to the truth of what the councillors asserted, they 
also present evidence to show that many of the New England 
members pursued a deliberate policy of obstruction, and for 
the work to be done the Puritan's wordiness and love of debate 
were quite as serious a menace as was despotism.^ There is 
nothing to indicate that Andros was despotic ; but he was im- 
patient and curt and no doubt cut short many a good argu- 
ment. Unlimited free discussion has not always been accepted 
as an unalloyed blessing, even in our own democratic time. 
Andros probably anticipated some of our modern legislative 
devices for limiting debate. 

As to the further complaints regarding land-titles, quit- 
rents, and the dispensing of justice there is ample justification 

^ See below, page 249, note. 



INTRODUCTION 227 

of them from the side of colonial law and custom, but Palmer 
in his pamphlet made out a very good case in defending the 
administration from the side of English law. 

The statement of the councillors here printed is, on the 
whole, a frank and honest attempt to tell the truth as they saw 
it. That it was the whole truth we cannot beheve. A Boston 
merchant characterized well the Puritan leaders when he said : 
" They are exceedingly wedded to their own way; a very home- 
bred people, but exceedingly wise and conceited in their own 
eyes." 

The third accoimt which is here given parallels, to a con- 
siderable extent, the narrative which Andros himself furnishes 
of his administration, though devoting more space than does 
Andros to the Indian war. The authorship of this pamphlet 
is not certainly known, but the writer was undoubtedly one 
of those sent back to England with Andros in February, 1690. 
The "ten months imprisonment" mentioned on pages 232-233 
coincides exactly with the period of imprisonment in Boston, 
from April 18, 1689, to February 10, 1690. The initials " C. D." 
are probably alphabetical, concealing the identity of the 
writer at a time when concealment was desirable. This be- 
lief is borne out by an earlier paper signed "C. D.," probably 
by the same author, and written in reply to one by "A. B.," 
entitled "An Account of the Late Revolutions in New Eng- 
land." ^ In the preface to the narrative of the councillors, 
the printed "C. D." pamphlet is called a "scandalous Pam- 
phlet, supposed to be written by an Implacable Enemy of all 
good men, and a person that for Impudence and Lying has 
few Equals in the World" (below, p. 240). The reference is 
clearly either to Randolph or to Dudley, for Andros cannot 
have written the papers. Palmer published a pamphlet over 

1 Cat. St. P. Col, 1689-1692, §§ 180, 181. The paper by "A. B." was after- 
ward printed in London and has been reprinted in The Andros Tracts, II. 191. 
The first "C. D." paper has never been printed. 



228 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

his own signature/ and West, Farwell, Graham, and Sherlock 
were not closely enough identified with Massachusetts to have 
written so intimately of the colony. The mention of the Evan- 
gelization Fund points to Randolph, who was continually 
conmienting adversely on this subject (Toppan, Randolph, I. 
225), but the phrase "our old Charters in New England" 
would hardly have been used by him, as he was not a New 
Englander. Furthermore, the style is much better than that 
employed by Randolph, and a study of his correspondence in- 
clines one to the behef that Randolph was not the writer of the 
pamphlet. 

If we take the two "C. D." papers together, we get a num- 
ber of fairly definite indications that point to Joseph Dudley 
as the author. He twice calls the Massachusetts men "my 
countrymen," and he states that he was "an eye and ear- 
witness to the Commission which appointed the President and 
Council for the New Government" in 1686. As the judge 
before whom Parson Wise was tried, Dudley could well have 
written "my nearness to the men of Ipswich has made me 
famiUar with the troubles and disturbances there, but how they 
and their like at Plymouth have been proceeded with I do not 
know so well." It is quite possible that Randolph had a 
hand in the composition of the second paper, for it was written 
after the arrival in England, but that Dudley actually penned 
the narrative seems demonstrated by the weight of evidence. 

Andros's report is to be found among the Colonial Office 
Papers in the PubUc Record Office, CO. 5: 855, and is printed 
in the Documents relative to the Colonial History of New York, 
HI. 722-726. The Narrative of the Proceedings was printed in 
Boston in 1691 and reprinted in The Andros Tracts, 1. 133-147. 
New England^s Faction Discovered was printed in London in 
1690 and also reprinted in The Andros Tracts, II. 203-222. 
The texts here given of the last two pamphlets are from the 
rare copies of the first issues in the John Carter Brown Library. 

1 See below, p. 239, note 2. 



ANDROS^S REPORT OF HIS ADMINISTRATION, 

1690 

To the Right Hon^ble the Lords of the Committee for Trade and 

Plantations. 

The state of New England under the goverment of Sr Edmond 

Andros. 

That in the yeare 1686 Sir Edmond Andros was by comis- 
sion under the Create Seale of England appoynted to succeed 
the President Dudley and Councill in the goverment of the 
Massachusetts CoUony, the Provinces of Hampshire and Maine 
and the Narragansett Country, to w'ch was annexed the Col- 
lonyes of Rhoad Island New Plymouth and the County of 
Cornwall.^ 

In the yeare 1687 the Collony of Connecticott was also an- 
nexed and in the yeare 1688 he received a new Commission 
for all New England includeing the Province of New Yorke 
and East and West Jersey, with particuler order and directions 
to assert and protect the Five warlike Nations or Cantons of 
Indians, l5^g West from Albany above the heads of our rivers 
as far or beyond Maryland vizt Maquaes, Oneydes, Onondages, 
Caeujes,^ and Sennekes, as the I^gs subjects upon whom the 
French had made severaU incursions, and to demand the set- 
ting at liberty severall of them surprized and deteyned by 
the French, and reparation for sundry goods taken from sev- 
erall Christians His Majesties subjects in the lawfull prosecu- 
tion of their trade. 

Sir Edmond Andros upon receipt of his Commission went 
to New Yorke and Albany of which the Indians having no- 

' The county of Cornwall lay east of the Kennebec River and included the 
district of Pemaquid and the adjacent islands off the coast. Courts were estab- 
lished for the county by the Andros Council in 1687. 

* Cayugas. 

229 



230 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1688 

tice, altho' they were then mett in Councill about goeing to 
Canada came thither, and were setled, and confirmed imder 
his goverment. 

He forthwith signifyed to the Gov'r of Canada His Ma'ties 
pleasure relateing to the Indians, and made demand from him, 
pursuant to the above orders, and alsoe to quitt a considerable 
fort which by incroachment he had built at Oniagra^ in the 
Senneka's Country southward of the Lake within His Ma'ties 
dominion, about one thousand miles distant from Quebeck in 
Canada (notwithstanding all the endeavours and opposition 
made by the Governor of New Yorke, before the annexation) 
upon an advantageous pass, neare the Indians hunting places, 
capable greatly to annoy and awe the Indians and obstruct and 
hinder the trade with them; That thereupon the Governor 
of Canada did accordingly withdraw the garrison and forces 
from the sayd Oniagra and those parts, and did further sig- 
nifie that the Indians by him taken were sent to France, but 
would write to the King his master about theire releasement. 

The severaU Provinces and CoUonys in New England being 
soe united, the revenue continued and setled in those parts, 
for the support of the government, amounted to about twelve 
thousand pounds per annum and aU places were well and quietly 
setled and in good posture. 

The Church of England being unprovided of a place for 
theyr publique woship, he did, by advice of the Councill, borrow 
the new meeting house in Boston,^ at such times as the same 
was imused, untill they could provide otherwise; and accord- 
ingly on Sundays went in between eleven and twelve in the 
morning, and in the afternoone about fower; but understand- 
ing it gave offence, hastned the building of a Church,^ w'ch 
was effected at the charge of those of the Church of England, 
where the Chaplaine of the Souldiers'* performed divine ser- 
vice and preaching. 

^ Fort Niagara. 

*The Old South Church, the third church in Boston, was built in 1672. 
The congregation of this church seceded from the First Church in 1667-1668 
because of more liberal views regarding baptism and the Lord's Supper. 

3 The first King's Chapel, a small, wooden structure, occupied a part of the 
site on which stood the later churches. (See The Andros Tracts, II. 45 and note.) 

* Rev. Robert RatclifFe. 



1688] ANDROS'S REPORT 231 

He was alwayes ready to give grants of vacant lands and 
confirme defective titles as authorized (the late Corporation 
not haveing passed or conveyed any pursuant to the directions 
in their Charter) but not above twenty^ have passed the seal 
in the time of his goverment. 

Courts of Judicature were setled in the severall parts, soe 
as might be most convenient for the ease and benefitt of the 
subject, and Judges appoynted to hold the Terms and goe the 
Circuite throughout the Dominion, to administer justice in 
the best manner and forme, and according to the lawes Cus- 
tomes and statutes of the realme of England, and some peculiar 
locall prudentiall laws of the Country, not repugnant therto; 
and fees regulated for all officers. 

That particuler care was taken for the due observance of 
the severall Acts made for the encouragement of navigation 
and regulateing the plantation trade, whereby the lawfull 
trade and His Majestys revenue of Customs was considerably 
increased. 

The Indians throughout the goverm't continued in good 
order and subjection untill, towards the latter end of the yeare 
1688, by some unadvised proceedings of the Inhabitants in 
the Eastern parts of New England, the late rupture with the 
Indians there commenced, severall being taken and some killed, 
when Sir Edmond Andros was at New Yorke more than three 
hundred miles distant from that place; and upon his speedy 
returne to Boston (haveing viewed and setled all parts to the 
Westward) great part of the garrison soldiers with stores and 
other necessarys were imediately sent Eastward to reinforce 
those parts, and vessells to secure the coast and fishery, and 
further forces raysed and appoynted to be under the command 
of Majr Gen'U Winthrop, who falling sick and declineing the 
service, by advice of the Councill he went with them in person 
and by the settlement of severall garrisons, frequent partyes, 
marches and pursuits after the enemy, sometimes above one 
hundred miles into the desart further than any Christian set- 
tlement, in w'ch the officers and souldiers of the standing forces 
always imployed, takeing and destroying their forts and set- 
tlem'ts, corne, provision, ammunicion and canooes, dispersed 

1 Twenty-three grants and confirmations are recorded in the extant min- 
utes of the council. 



232 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

and reduced them to the uttermost wants and necessitys, and 
soe secured the Countrey, that from the said forces goeing out 
untill the time of the late revolucion there, and disorderly 
calling the forces from those parts, not the least loss, damage or 
spoyle hapned to the inhabitants or fishery, and the Indians 
were ready to submitt at mercy. ^ 

About the latter end of March 1688 Sir Edmond Andros 
retm-ned for Boston, leaveing the garrisons and souldiers in 
the Easterne parts in good condition, and sufiiciently furnished 
with provisions and all stores and implyments of warr and 
vessells for defence of the coast and fishery. 

On the 18th of Aprill 1689 severall of His Ma'ties Councill 
in New England haveing combined and conspired togeather 
with those who were Magistrates and officers in the late Charter 
Goverment annually chosen by the people, and severall other 
persons, to subvert and overthrow the goverment, and in 
stead thereof to introduce their former Comonwealth; and 
haveing by their false reports and aspersions gott to their 
assistance the greatest part of the people, whereof appeared 
in arms at Boston under the comand of those who were Officers 
in the sayd former popular goverment, to the number of 
about two thousand horse and foote; which strange and sud- 
den appearance being wholly a surprize to Sir Edmond Andros, 
as knowing noe cause or occasion for the same, but imderstand- 
ing that severall of the Councill were at the Councill Chamber 
where (it being the Ordinary Councill day) they were to meet, 
and some particularly by him sent for from distant parts also 
there, he and those with him went thither. And tho' (as he 
passed) the streets were full of armed men, yett none offered 
him or those that were with him the least rudeness or incivillity, 
but on the contrary usuall respect; but when he came to the 
Councill Chamber he found severall of the sayd former popular 
Majestrates and other cheife persons then present, with those 
of the Councill, who had noe suitable regard to him, nor the 
peace and quiet of the Countrey, but instead of giveing any 
assistance to support the Goverment, made him a prisoner 
and also imprisoned some members of the Councill and other 
officers, who in pursuance of their respective dutyes and sta- 
tions attended on him, and kept them for the space of ten 

^ See Narratives of the Indian Wars, in this series, pp. 186-195. 



1689] ANDROS'S REPORT 233 

months under severe and close confinement untill by His 
Ma'ties comand they were sent for England to answer what 
might be objected them, Where, after summons given to the 
pretended Agents of New England and their twice appearance 
at the CouncUl Board, nothing being objected by them or 
others, they were discharged. In the time of his confinement 
being denyed the liberty of discourse or conversation with 
any person, his own servants to attend him, or any communica- 
tion or correspondence with any by letters, he hath noe par- 
ticular knowledge of their further proceedings, but hath heard 
and understands: — 

That soone after the confinem't of his person, the Con- 
federates [took the] fort and Castle from the Officers that had 
the comand of them, whom they also imprisoned and dis- 
persed the few souldiers belonging to the two standing Com- 
panyes then there, as they did the rest, when they recalled 
the forces imployed against the Indians Eastward (which two 
Companys are upon His Ma'ties establishment in England,) 
in w'ch service halfe a company of the standing forces at New 
Yorke being also imployed, the officers were surprised and 
brought prisoners to Boston, and the souldiers dispersed, as 
the remaining part of them at New Yorke were afterwards 
upon the revolucion there. The other company was, and 
remained, at Fort Albany and are both upon establishment to 
be payd out of His Ma'ties revenue there. And the Confed- 
erates at Boston possessed themselves of all His Ma'ties stores, 
armes ammunicion and other implements of warr, and disabled 
His Ma'ties man of war the Rose frigatt by secureing the 
Comander and bringing her sayles on shoare; and at the same 
time haveing imprisoned the secretary and some other officers, 
they broke open the Sec'rys Office and seized and conveyed 
away all records papers and wrightings. 

Those Members of His Ma'ties Councill that were in con- 
federacy with the before mencioned popular Majestrates and 
other cheife actors in this revolucion, tooke upon them the 
goverment, by the name of a Councill,^ who not content with 

^ Stoughton, Wait Winthrop, Hinckley, Gedney, and Shrimpton. W. Brown, 
the only other councillor who became a member of the Council of Safety, entered 
the Andros body at the same time with Shrimpton, but attended only three of 
its meetings. 



234 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

the inconveniency they had brought on themselves in the 
Massachusetts Colony, but to the mine of the poore neigh- 
bours, on the twentieth of Aprill gave orders for the drawing 
off the forces from Pemyquid and other garrisons and places 
in the Easterne parts, far without the lymitts of their Collony 
and where the seate of warr with the Indians was, and to seize 
severall of the oflBicers, and for calling home the vessells ap- 
poynted to gard the sea coast and fishery; w'ch was done 
accordingly, and the forces disbanded, when most of the soul- 
diers belonging to the standing Companys there were dis- 
persed; of which, and their actings at Boston, the Indians 
haveing notice, (and being supplyed with Amunicion and pro- 
vision out of a vessell sent from Boston by some of the cheife 
conspirators before the insurrection to trade with them) they 
were encouraged and enabled to renew and pursue the warr; 
and by the assistance of some French who have been seen 
amongst them and engageing of severall other Indians before 
unconcerned, increased their numbers, that in a very short 
tyme severall hundreds of Their Ma' ties subjects were killed 
and carryed away captive; The Fort at Pemyquid taken; the 
whole Cuntry of Cornwall, the greatest part of the Province 
of Maine, and part of the Province of New Hampshire de- 
stroyed and deserted; and the principall trade of that coun- 
trey, w'ch consisted in a considerable fishery, the getting of 
masts, yards etc. for the supply of His Ma'tyes navy Royall, 
and boards and other lumber for the supply of the other West 
India plantacions, is almost wholy ruined. 

By the encouragem't and perswasion of those of the Massa- 
chusetts the severall other provinces and coUonys in New Eng- 
land as far as New Yorke have disunited themselves, and set 
up their former seperate Charter,^ or popular goverments 
without Charter,^ and by that meanes the whole revenue of 
the Crowne continued and setled in the severall parts for the 
support of the Goverment is lost and destroyed. 

The usuall time for election of new Majestrates at Boston 
comeing on in the begining of May 1689, great controversie 
arose about the setling of Civill Goverment; some being for 
a new election, and others that the Majestrates chosen and 

1 The colonies referred to are Rhode Island and Connecticut. 
* Plymouth had no charter. 



1689] ANDROS'S REPORT 235 

swome in 1686 before the alteracion should reassume; the 
latter of w'ch was concluded on by them and the pretended 
representatives of the severall townes of the Massachusetts, 
and assumed by the sd Majestrates accordingly, and thereupon 
the old Charter Goverment, tho' vacated in Westminster Hall,^ 
was reassumed without any regard to the Crowne of England, 
and they revived and confirmed their former laws contrary 
and repugnant to the laws and statutes of England, setled 
their Courts of Judicature, and appoynted new officers, and 
have presumed to try and judge all cases civill and criminall, 
and to pass sentence of death on severall of Their Ma'ties 
subjects, some of whom they have caused to be executed. 

Alltho in the revenue continued on the Crowne for support 
of the goverment dureing his time, the country pay'd but the 
old establisht rate of a penny in the pound per Annum as given 
and practised for about fifty yeares past, the present Admin- 
istrators have of their own authority, for not above six months, 
raysed and exacted from the people of the Massachusetts Col- 
lony seven rates and a half. 

Since this insurrection and alteracion in New England ^ 
they doe tollerate an unlimited irregular trade, contrary to 
the severall acts of Plantations, Trade and Navigacion, now 
as little regarded as in the time of their former Charter Gover- 
ment; they esteeming noe laws to be binding on them but 
what are made by themselves, nor admitt English laws to be 
pleaded there, or appeales to His Ma'tie. And many shipps 
and vessells have since arrived from Scotland, Holland, New- 
foundland, and other places prohibitted, they haveing im- 
prisoned His Ma'ties Collector, Surveyor and searcher, and 
displaced other Customhouse officers. 

That they sent to Albany to treat with the Indians in those 
parts, particularly with the Five Nations, Maquaes etc. and 
invited them to Boston; which is of ill and dangerouse conse- 

1 The charter of Massachusetts was vacated by decree of the Court of 
Chancery, the masters or judges in which sat with the Lord Chancellor in West- 
minster Hall, the great hall of William Rufus, now a part of the Houses of Parlia- 
ment. Sometimes the Lord Chancellor heard causes in his own house, but in 
the case of the Massachusetts charter the hearing was at Westminster. 

2 In reviewing all the conditions of disunion and weakness that he was ex- 
pressly sent over to remedy, Andros naturally lays stress on the disastrous con- 
sequences of the revolt. 



236 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

quence, by makeing the sayd Indians particularly acquainted 
with the disunion and seperate goverments, and shewing them 
the countrey and disorders therof, as far as Boston, giveing 
thereby the greatest advantage to the French of gaining or 
subdueing the sayd Indians and attempting Fort Albany (the 
most advanced frontier into the country and great mart of the 
beaver and peltry trade) and of infesting other parts. 

The forces raysed and sent out by them the last summer, 
notwithstanding the great encouragem't they promised of 
eight pounds per head for every Indian should be killed, be- 
sides their pay, proved neither effectuall to suppresse the enemy 
or secure the country from further damage and murthers; and 
upon the winters approaching the forces were recalled and the 
country left exposed to the enemy, who have already over runn 
and destroyed soe great a part therof . And now by the assis- 
tance of the French of Canada may probably proceed further 
into the heart of the country, being soe devided and out of 
order unless it shall please His Ma'tie by his owne authority 
to redress the same, and put a stop to the French and Indians, 
and thereby prevent the ruine or loss of that whole dominion 
of New England and consequently of Their Maj'ties other 
American Plantacions; endangered not only by the want of 
provisions, but by the many ships, vessells, seamen and other 
necessarys in New England, capable to supply and transport 
any force, may annoy or attempt those plantacions ; but may 
be by His Ma'ties authority and comands effectually setled 
and preserved, and of service against the French or any other 
Their Ma'ties enemys in those parts, with no greater land force 
then is necessary to be continued there, and a sufficient revenue 
raysed to defray the charge thereof, by dutyes and rates, as 
heretofore hath been practised amongst them and is usuall in 
other Their Ma'ties plantacions. Humbly submitted by 

E. Andros. 
[Endorsed :] 

Sr Edmond Andros's Acco't 

of the State of New England 

under his goverment. 

Reed 27 May. 1690. 



NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF 
ANDROS, 1691 



NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF 
ANDROS, 1691 

A Narrative of The Proceedings of Sir Edmond Androsse and 
his Complices, Who Acted by an Illegal and Arbitrary Com- 
mission from the Late K. James, during his Government in 
New England. By several Gentlemen who were of his 
Council. Printed in the Year 1691. 

To the Reader. 

The Particulars mentioned in the ensuing Narrative are 
but a small part of the Grievances justly complained of by 
the People in New England, during their three years Oppres- 
sion under Sir E. A. For a more full Account, the Reader is 
referred to the Justification of the Revolution in New England,^ 
where every particular exhibited against Sir Ed. and his Com- 
plices, by the Agents lately sent to England, is by the Affi- 
davits of honest men confirmed. If some men find themselves 
thereby exposed to the just Resentments and Indignation of 
all true Christians, or true English men, they must thank them- 
selves for publishing such untrue Accounts as that which goes 
under the name of Captain John Palmers,^ and that scandalous 

' The Revolution in New England Justified (Boston, 1691), by E. R. and 
S. S. [Edward Rawson and Samuel Sewall], reprinted in The Andros Tracts, I. 
63-132. 

2 An Impartial Account of the State of New England : or, the Late Govern' 
Tnent there, Vindicated. In Answer to the Declaration which the Faction set forth 
when they Overturned That Government (London, 1690). This pamphlet is re- 
printed in The Andros Tracts, I. 21-41, and is undoubtedly the ablest of all the 
papers written in defense of the Andros government. In comparing the four 
accounts, of which two were written by Andros and Palmer, and two appeared 
anonymously (though possibly written by Ratcliffe and Dudley), we find so many 
likenesses and similarities in words used and facts and figures given that it is 
difficult not to believe in a certain amount of collusion among the writers. Even 
if unintentional, such agreements would not be surprising under the circumstances. 

239 



240 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

Pamphlet called N. E^s Faction discovered,^ supposed to be 
written by an Implacable Enemy of all good men, and a per- 
son that for Impudence and Ljdng has few Equals in the World. 
This which follows, being signed by several Gentlemen of 
great Integrity, who likewise had a particular knowledge of 
the things by them related, is therefore of unquestionable 
Credit. The Design in making of it thus publick, is to vin- 
dicate Their Majesties Loyal Subjects in New England, and 
to give a true Representation of things unto those who have 
by false Relations been imposed on. 

B. N. E.2 Feb. 4, 1690/1. 

Having Received from Mr. Addington,' by order of the 
Council and Representatives of the Massachusetts Colony, a 
signification of their desire. That whereas we were Members 
of the Late Council in the time of Sir Edmond Androsses Gov- 
ernment, we would give some Information of the Grievances 
and Male-administrations under the same: Upon considera- 
tion had thereof, and in answer thereunto, we cannot but own 
and declare, that not only our selves, but many others in the 
same station (not now present to joyn with us) were of a long 
time much dissatisfied and discouraged with very many of the 
Proceedings and Administrations in the said Government ; and 
had little reason to wonder that so great a number of the 
People were so too. It might well have been expected that 
the Governour (not so successful heretofore) notwithstanding 
the extraordinariness (to say no more) of many Clauses and 
Powers in his Commission, yea the rather and the more, be- 
cause thereof, would have cautioned and moderated the Exe- 
cution of the same: But to our Great Trouble we found it 
very much otherwise. Many were the things that were ac- 
counted Irregular and Grievous therein, far from conducing 
to the Publick Weal of the Territory, and not a little to the 
disservice of the Crown, as tending rather to the disturbing 
and disaffecting of the Subjects here, than to the furtherance 
of that chearful Obedience, Loyalty, Love and Duty in them, 
which ought by all good means to have been nourished and 

* See the next piece in this volume. ^ /, g,^ Boston, New England. 

^ Isaac Addington, secretary of the colony. 



1687-1689] THE PROCEEDINGS OF ANDROS 241 

promoted. And of all this unhappiness, we must reckon the 
first step and in-let to be, that the Governour did so quickly 
neglect the great number of the Council, and chiefly adhere 
unto and Govern by the advice only of a few others, the prin- 
cipal of them Strangers to the Countrey, without Estates or 
Interest therein to oblige them, persons of known and declared 
Prejudices against us, and that had plainly laid their chief est 
Designs and Hopes to make unreasonable profit of this poor 
People. Innumerable were the evil Effects that from hence 
were continually growing up amongst us. The Debates in 
Council were not so free as ought to have been, but too much 
over-ruled, and a great deal of harshness continually expressed 
against Persons and Opinions that did not please. The Great- 
est Rigour and Severity was too often used towards the soberest 
sort of People, when any thing could be found or pretended 
against them, their humble submissions were little regarded, 
and inexorable Persecutions ordered against them, whilst in 
the mean time the notorious viciousness and profaneness of 
others met not with the like discountenance, but persons of 
such a character were put into places of business and trust. 
The long settled maintenance of the Publick Ministry, even 
from those that applied themselves to no other w^y of Wor- 
ship, but continued ordinary hearers, could not be upheld by 
any act of Authority providing for the same, and Schools of 
Learning, so well taken care of formerly, were in most places 
fallen to decay, and many more such like might be reckoned 
up. But we shall more especially instance farther in the par- 
ticulars following, as not the least. 

1. And first : It was, as we thought, a great slight put upon 
the Council, and to the prejudice of the good People of the 
Territory, That whereas at the Governours first coming a 
Committee appointed thereunto by himself, and a full Council 
had with great care and several weeks trouble revised a very- 
considerable number of Orders and Laws collected out of the 
several Law-Books of these Colonies found by long experience 
very needful and agreeable to the good of these Plantations, 
which Laws so Collected and Revised were again presented 
unto, and upon further advisement approved by the Governour 
and CouncU and passed, Yet upon the introducing Mr. West 
from New York to be Deputy Secretary, they were, for what 



242 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

causes we know not, totally laid aside, and the People denied 
the benefit of them. And this Grievance was so much the 
greater, and a plainer Indication of the severity of some men 
in their Intended Management of things, because on good 
deliberation there had also passed an Order of Council, That 
until the Council should take further order, the several Jus- 
tices, Town-Officers, and others should proceed according to 
former Usages, and such Local Laws in the several parts of 
this Dominion, as are not repugnant to the Laws of England, 
etc. Yet because by virtue of the said Order some in Authority 
have proceeded to put forth their power for the support of the 
Ministry, and some others did justifie themselves in some 
actions done by them that were not pleasing; hereupon when 
a discourse only, and some debate thereof, had passed in Coun- 
cil but without any regular determination made, and contrary 
to the express words of the said Order, it was Entred in the 
Council-Book concerning it, resolved that the same was only 
in Force till the next Session of the Council, and so determined 
as null of it self, and that none presume to act pursuant to 
such Laws as are or shall be made here. 

2. Whereas the Act for the Continuing and Establishing of 
several Rates, Duties and Imposts was one of the first of so 
great Moment that came out in Form under the Seal of the 
Territory, and was publickly proclaimed, we that were present 
have great cause to remember what trouble and dissatisfaction 
there was amongst the Members of the Council concerning 
the same. As that Act was framed and urged upon us, a very 
considerable number (and we believe we were the Major part) 
dissented from and argued much against it. And tho the 
Governor expressed not a little heat and positiveness, alledg- 
ing his instructions, and held the Council together unreason- 
ably a very long time about it. Yet when we did at last break 
up we could not imagine that he could take the Bill to be agreed 
to; Nevertheless it was the next day (to our wonderment) 
brought in fairly Engrossed in Parchment, and quickly Signed 
by the Governour without any counting of Voices either then 
or the day before, which was the more needful because some did 
continue still to make their objections, others that had spoken 
against the Bill the day before, declaring their adherence to 
what they had then said; and many more under so great dis- 



1687-1689] THE PROCEEDINGS OF ANDROS 243 

couragement and discountenance, as was manifested, sitting 
silent, which we are sure in the regular passing of Laws can 
never be reckoned for a consent. 

3. The Way and Manner used afterwards of proposing and 
passing all Laws was very uncertain and unequal, not answer- 
able to the Nature of so great a Power, nor to the largeness of 
the Territory that was to be obliged by them, or to the Num- 
ber of the Councellors appointed therein ; for after a little while 
there were no set times appointed or given notice of for the 
making of Laws, that so the Members of the Council might 
attend in a fuller number to be helpful therein. Bills of the 
greatest concernment were usually first consulted and framed 
in private, and so unexpectedly brought into Council at any 
time, and then our work too was often under great disadvan- 
tages, not to advise freely and consult about the making of a 
Law tJiought necessary but to maintain a sort of Contest in 
opposition to a very inconvenient one, too far promoted and 
engaged in already; and above all, there was never any fair 
way of taking and counting the number of the Councellors 
consenting and dissenting, that so the Majority might be 
known in any matter that admitted of any considerable reason- 
ings and debates, by reason whereof both Laws and other 
Orders and Resolutions might be set down as passed by the 
Council, which ought not to have been. And when it hath been 
(as often it was) expresly and earnestly prayed when matters 
of greater moment than ordinary were in hand, that the Debate 
and Resolution of them might be put off till a fuller Council 
of Members from other several parts of the Dominion might 
be Convened, such motions were ever disaccepted, and enter- 
tained with no little displacency ; so that it might be too truly 
affirmed, that in effect four or five persons, and those not so 
favourably inclined and disposed as were to be wished for, 
bear the Rule over, and gave Law to a Territory the largest 
and most considerable of any belonging to the Dominion of 
the Crown. 

4. In pursuance of this way and manner of passing Laws 
above expressed, there were two in special that came forth, 
which we are sure in fuller and freer Councils would have had 
a full stop put to them; viz. First, The Act for Regulating 
the Choice of select Men, etc., wherein the Liberty of Towns 



244 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

to meet for the managing of their Publick Affairs referring to 
their Common Lands, and all other their concernments, which 
they had enjoyed for so many years, to their great benefit, 
was most unreasonably restrained to once a year, and all other 
Convening of Inhabitants as a Town Meeting upon any pre- 
tence or colour whatsoever, was strictly forbidden: And the 
other Act was that intituled. An Act requiring all Masters of 
Ships or Vessels to give security, in which there were such 
restraints laid upon all persons from Transporting themselves 
freely (as their occasions might call) out of the Territory, 
That it would have been a meer Prison to all that should be 
found therein, and such Bond required of all Ships and Vessels 
(extending in the practice even to Shallops and Wood-Boats) 
as would quickly have intolerably discouraged, if not ruined 
the Trade thereof; and all without any other ordinary general 
benefit of the said Act, but the filling some mens Pockets with 
Fees: And (as it might be thought from the time of moving 
for this Act, which was when Captain Hutchinson^ was already 
gone, and Mr. Mather was known to be intending for England) 
the obstructing of such mens going home as were likely there 
to make just Complaints, and seek Redress of Publick Griev- 
ances; and when this Act had been strenuously opposed in 
Council here at Boston, where it was more than once vehe- 
mently urged, and as often denied, it was carried as far as New 
York, and there an opportunity found for the obtaining of it. 
5. The great matter of Properties and Titles to our Lands 
is the next to be insisted on. His Majesty that granted the 
Charter did fully invest the Patentees with Right to the Soil 
throughout the whole Limits thereof, and here on the place, 
the Right of the Natives was honestly purchased from them. 
The Disposal, Distribution, and Granting of Lands by the 
Patentees, who were also incorporated, and made a Body Poli- 
tick, was in such a plain, ready, easie way, without any charge 
to the Planters, as in the Settlement of so large a Countrey 
was thought to be most agreeable : And so much of a publick 
spirit and design were those Noble Gentlemen, that (though 
well they might) they settled not one single Penny of service 
or acknowledgment to themselves and Heirs in any of their 
Grants, a thing so self-denying and worthy, that few Instances 

^ Elisha Hutchinson. Increase Mather; see below, pp. 271-272. 



1687-1689] THE PROCEEDINGS OF ANDROS 245 

can be given of the like. All which notwithstanding, and the 
Possessions, Descents and Valuable Purchases of so many 
years that have passed since, The Governour and those he 
adhered to, resolved and practised to make all mens Titles in 
effect quite null and void. The purchasing of the Natives 
Right was made nothing of, and next to a Ridicule. The En- 
joyment and Improvement of Lands not inclosed, and espe- 
cially if lying in common amongst many, was denied to be pos- 
session; it was not enough that some men that thought it 
convenient, and were both willing and able, did take Con- 
firmations of their Lands, the numbers of whom in time might 
have been a considerable gain to them; but nothing would 
satisfie unless all in general might be compelled so to do ; hence 
those that refused were declared Intruders upon His Majesty, 
and put in fear of having their Lands granted unto strangers. 
Many were Solicited and Encouraged to Petition for other 
mens Lands, and had a shameful Example set them by some 
of the chief Contrivers of all this Mischief. When some men 
have Petitioned for a confirmation of their own Lands, a part 
of these only was offered to be granted to them, and another 
part denyed. Nor could any mans own Land be confirmed 
to him, without a particular Survey of every part and parcel 
of them first made, the great charges whereof, and of other 
Fees to be taken, would have been to most men Insupportable : 
Yea it hath by some been computed that all the money in the 
Countrey would not suffice to patent the Lands therein con- 
tained. 

And yet farther, a considerable quit-rent to the King was 
to be Imposed upon all Lands, though already a constant 
yearly Tax for the support of the Government had been laid 
on them. 

And for all this most unreasonable vexation to a Laborious 
and Industrious people, the only Ground pi-etended was some 
defects and wants of form and due manner alledged to be in 
the way of the disposing and conveying of all Lands from the 
Patentees to the Townships and People here ; which whatever 
it amounted to, might have been easily remedied, either by 
an application and representation to the King for the obtain- 
ing a General settlement of all properties (which would have 
been highly Worthy and Generous for the Governour to have 



246 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

engaged in, on behalf of the People) or by some other ways 
that were proposed. But nothing but the way of particular 
Patenting as abovesaid could prevail. In prosecution whereof 
all Actions intended upon Informations of Intrusions in His 
Majesties behalf, or between old Proprietors and new Grantees, 
must have had their Decision at the Ordinary Courts of Com- 
mon Law here upon the Place, where matters of Equity and 
of a Consideration Transcending all ordinary Cases could not 
have a proper Cognizance and due Influence in the Decision, 
Determination and Judgment. 

6. Though sufficient Courts of Justice were appointed, and 
held in the several Counties for the Tryal of all Offenders, yet 
it was too frequent upon more particular displeasure to fetch 
up persons from very remote Counties before the Governour 
and Council at Boston (who were the highest, and a constant 
Court of Record and Judicature) not to receive their tryal but 
only to be examined there, and so remitted to an Inferior Court 
to be farther proceeded against. The Grievance of which 
Court was exceeding great, for hereby not only the Charge 
was made Excessive upon such persons by the notorious exac- 
tions of the Messenger, the Secretaries Fees for Examination, 
etc.. But these Examinations themselves were unreasonably 
strict, and rigorous and very unduely ensnaring to plain un- 
experienced men. And the Tryals of several were by this 
means over-ruled to be at Boston, and not in the proper 
Counties, and were otherwise so far prejudged as to be rendred 
less equal. 

The Extraordinary Oppressive Fees taken in all matters 
by indigent and exacting Officers, these were at the first for a 
long time Arbitrarily imposed and required without any col- 
our of an Establishment of them by the Council. Afterwards 
a Committee was appointed, to bring in a Table of Fees, that 
spent a long time without finishing any thing, the reason 
whereof was because some therein, especially the Deputy 
Secretary West, insisted upon Fees much more extraordinary 
than some others could consent to. In conclusion : There was 
a Table of Fees drawn up to be presented to the Council, and 
signed by some of the Committee, one of whom (whose Sub- 
scription is to this Paper) declaring expresly, that by his Sign- 
ing he did no otherwise agree, but only that it might be pre- 



1687-1689] THE PROCEEDINGS OF ANDROS 247 

sented to the Council, to do therein as they should see cause, 
who also when it was so presented to the Council, declared 
that many of the particulars in that Table contained were 
unreasonable, and ought to be abated, and of this mind were 
many others. But the Entry after the usual manner was an 
approbation thereof. 

Lastly, As to those Great Jealousies and Suspicions of 
Sinister Designs in the Governour as to our Troubles by the 
Indians, we have to say. That although divers things too un- 
certain, if not untrue, have been too easily reported and spread 
concerning him, a practice which some of us have formerly 
with no little prejudice to our selves discountenanced and 
bom Testimony against ; yet there have not wanted some other 
particulars that might give too great a ground for the same. 
The principal of them (as far as we have any knowledge of 
things of that kind) are these : 

The Governours Seizing and Taking away the Goods of 
Mounsieur St. Castine of Penopscot,^ the Summer before 
the War broke forth, which thing hath been esteemed not a 
little to have stirred up and furthered the succeeding Troubles. 
The Governours not hastening his Return to Boston when 
these Troubles were actually begun, but lengthening out his 
Tarrience in places so remote, till the Hostility of the Indians 
and the great Mischiefs thereof were too far advanced. That 
during his absence he was not pleased sufficiently to impower 
and instruct any to act things necessary for the safety of the 
out Plantations and the Prosecution and Suppression of the 
Enemy, tho' he had speedy and true Accounts from time to 
time sent him of all that happened. That all that was done 
to this purpose in a case of such necessity, either by the Lieu- 
tenant Govenour, or by the Justices of Peace and Military 
Officers in many places, by securing and disarming of Neigh- 
bouring Indians, setting up Warding and Watching, Garrison- 
ing several houses for the security of the Inhabitants, especially 
the Women and Children, in case of sudden Inroads and Sur- 
prizings that might be, sending some relief of men to some 
places that were most in danger, and also what was done by 

^ The Baron de St. Castin was a Frenchman who had established himself 
among the Indians, on the Penobscot, where now is Castine, Maine. Andros 
dispossessed him in the spring of 1688. 



248 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

those Members of the Council that were at Boston in conjunc- 
tion with the Commander in chief left in the Fort there, who 
raised and sent some Forces to Casco-Bay, where greatest 
harms were done — We say, that all that was thus done, was 
so extreamly disapproved of by the Governour upon his Return 
back from Albany and New York, and an unaccountable dis- 
pleasure manifested against all persons that had so acted, and 
that he was ready to call them to an account as high Offenders 
for the same, and refused a long time, tho' much solicited, to 
give any Order concerning the Souldiers sent to Casco, either 
for the continuance of them there, where they were very neces- 
sary, or for their dimission home. Unto all which may be 
added the Governours sending Messengers, both John Smith 
the Quaker from Albany, and soon after Major Macgregory^ 
to Keybeck,^ upon such Errands and Business as were not com- 
municated and laid open to the Council. And further, his 
Relase and setting at liberty sundry Indians that were in 
hold, some of them known Enemies to the English, and par- 
ticularly objected against by several of the Council, and that 
without any exchange of our English Captives then in the 
Enemies hands. 

These are the chief Matters which upon this occasion (with- 
out any undue Prejudice against any man, or design to justifie 
the defects of our selves in the performance of our own shares 
of duty, but in answer to the desire signified to us as above) 
we have to set forth, professing truly that by such a state of 
things as we had the experience and feeling of, The Places 
that we held were rendred exceeding uneasie to us, and that out 
of a sincere respect to the Prosperity of these Their Majesties 
Plantations, we could not but be very desirous that, through 
the Favour of God and our Superiors, all due Redress might 
in a good happy season be obtained, and the way of Governing 
English Subjects in Their Majesties Dominions without an 

1 Lieutenant Patrick Macgregory was in charge of the forts at Sagadahoc, 
Pejepscot (Brunswick), and on the Kennebec. A brief notice of him is given 
in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 395. He was an engineer, and Randolph speaks of a 
map made by him of the region of the Five Nations, and of the French forts from 
Quebec to the Mississippi. He was killed in New York, in the spring of 1691, 
when Leisler and Ingoldesby exchanged shots over the possession of the fort 
(below, p. 391, note 2). 
2 Quebec. 



1687-1689] THE PROCEEDINGS OF ANDROS 249 

Assembly of the Peoples Representatives^ banished out of a 
World for ever. 

Boston in New England, 

Jan. 27, 1690.^ William Stoughton, 

Thomas Hinckley, 
Wait Winthrop, 
Barthol. Gedney, 
Samuel Shrimpton. 

F ini s. 

^ The fact that the Andros government was without any representation of 
the people probably accounts, in largest part, for the dislike the New Englanders 
had for it. People will endure quite as much "oppression" as is charged against 
Andros and his council if they are themselves the authors of it. Yet it is hard 
to see how a representative assembly could have been set up in a region that 
extended from Maine to the Delaware. Had representative government been 
tried, and it must not be forgotten that Andros recommended such a trial, the 
end would inevitably have been rule by the Massachusetts members. In 
Andros's council delegates from Plymouth were not always present even in the 
early period, and those from Connecticut and New York appeared only when 
the council sat in Hartford or New York. There is an undercurrent of self- 
interest running through all the Massachusetts complaints. 

2 1691, N.S. 



C. D., NEW ENGLAND'S FACTION 
DISCOVERED, 1690 



C. D., NEW ENGLAND'S FACTION 
DISCOVERED, 1690 

New-England's Faction Discovered ; or, A Brief and True Ac- 
count of their Persecution of the Church of England; the 
Beginning and Progress of the War with the Indians; and 
other Late Proceedings there, in a Letter from a Gentleman 
of that Country, to a Person of Quality. 

Being, an Answer to a most false and scandalous Pamphlet lately 
Published ; Intituled, News from New-England, etc. 

Honourable Sir, 

Tho I have but very lately advised you of my Arrival, and 
given you some short and general Account of the State and 
Circumstance of Affairs in New-England, at the time I left 
the place; which I thought might have been sufficient, until 
I should have the Honour to wait on you personally; but 
having had the view of a certain Pamphlet lately Published 
and Intituled News from New-England,^ etc. pretending to give 
an Account of the Present State of that Country, and finding 
the same so very fictitious, false and scandalous, published out 
of a most wicked design to vilifie and traduce some Worthy 
Gentlemen, who have been better Friends to our Country, 
than ever the obscure Author thereof was, or knows how to be, 
and to amuse and perplex others : I could not forbear, out of 
my Zeal for truth, and the love and value I have for the Peace 
and Welfare of my Country, to give you the trouble of this 
Letter, to discover the falseness of the pretended News, and 
the baseness and ignorance of the Author; who without great 
difficulty may easily be guessed at, and known by his fruits. 

And therefore it may not be amiss to acquaint you, that 
about two years since, one Mr. J. M.,^ pretended Teacher of 

1 This pamphlet is not known to exist. 
* Rev. Increase Mather; see below, p. 271. 

253 



254 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

the Gospel in Boston, privately left that place and came for 
London, where of his own authority he set up to be an Agent 
for the Country,^ and used all the art and subtilty he could, 
during the Reign of King James, to indear the same into the 
affection of F. Peters,^ Mr. Brent,^ and Nevil Pain,'' under- 
taking as well for himself as us to subscribe to the taking off 
the Penal Laws and Tests, to support the Dispensing Power, 
and to satisfie his own malice and prejudice (without any ground 
or reason) conceived against the then Government of New- 
England. 

This Man, as it was the Opinion of most sober and con- 
siderate Men when I left New-England, so I may very justly 
term the Author and Promoter of all our miseries, founded 
upon apparent and wittingly devised Lyes and Calumnies, car- 
ried on under pretence of Zeal and Piety, insinuated into, and 
imposed upon many of the common People, hurrying them into 
mischiefs and inconveniencies now sufficiently seen, felt, and 
repented of; Him therefore, I will conclude the Author of the 
before-mentioned Pamphlet; the falsities whereof I shall now 
plainly and briefly detect, to prevent your self and others being 
imposed upon by him, as many of my Countrymen and others 
have too lately been. 

And in the first place I cannot omit to take notice of his 
positive confidence to charge a Commission granted in due 
Form under the Great Seal of England, for the Government 
of one of Their Majesties Plantations, Illegal and Arbitrary; 
and that Government a Tyranny, which was by virtue thereof 
exercised with a thousand times more justice and lenity, than 
when under the pretended Charter, Administration, or Com- 

^ Mather had no authority to act as an agent of the colony. He went to 
England in the private capacity of one representing the leaders of the old govern- 
ment. 

2 Father Edward Petre, the confessor of James II. 

3 Robert Brent, a Roman Catholic, who having played a conspicuous part 
under James II., was charged with high treason and imprisoned, January 14, 1689 
{Commons Journal, X. 110). Andros says that Brent was the solicitor for Father 
Petre and Sir Thomas Powys, the attorney-general, and that he was the inter- 
mediary through whom Mather obtained from Powys the opinion that the 
Massachusetts charter was illegally vacated. 

* Henry Neville Payne, a dramatist and pamphleteer who supported the 
Stuart cause and after 1689 became involved in conspiracies against the crown. 



1687-1689] NEW ENGLAND'S FACTION DISCOVERED 255 

monwealth Discipline, without any Authority for the same 
whatsoever; if the Author had been but as well acquainted 
with the Law, as he was with the Declaration he refers to (and 
no doubt was the first contriver of), he would have been of 
another judgment, or at least have conceal'd it until the 
.Opinion of his Superiors had been given therein. 
^ 2. That the War with the Indians was begun, as the 
Author there relates, or that it was ever affirmed by the In- 
dians, that they were encouraged thereto by Sir E. A.,^ is 
wholly false; for in the Summer 1688, when Sir E. A. went 
to receive and settle the Province of New York, then annexed 
under his Government, it so happened, that a Party of about 
Nine French Indians fell upon an Indian Plantation at a place 
called Spectaclepond, near Springfield, on Connecticott River, 
and kiird and carried away about Nine Indians, and after 
coming to a small Village on that River called Northfield, they 
killed six Christians, and being pursued, fled; the noise of 
these Murthers soon spread throughout the Country, and no- 
tice was given thereof to all the Frontier or Out-parts, advising 
them to be vigilant and careful to prevent Surprize by any 
strange or suspected Indians, and soon after this News came 
to Saco, (a Town and River in the Province of Maine above 
three hundred Miles distant from the places beforenamed 
called by that name,) Five Indian Men, and Sixteen Women 
and Children, who had always lived and planted on that 
River, were seized on, and sent by Water to Boston, some of 
whom were so old and feeble, that they were forced to be 
carried, when ashore, on others backs. On their arrival at 
Boston, the Lieutenant Governor and those of the Council 
there examined into the cause of seizing those Indians, and 
sending them thither; but finding that no Cause was sent 
with them, nor any ground or reason to hold them in Custody, 
they returned them to the place from whence they came, to 
be set at liberty; but before they arrived there, the English 
near those parts were got to their Arms and Garisons : Other 
Indians of Ambroscoggen and Kenebeque River, hearing that 
those of Saco were seized and sent away, forthwith surprized 
as many of the English in Cascobay and Kenebeque River, 
sajdng they intended no harm, but would keep them till the 

^ Sir Edmund Andros. 



256 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

Indians were returned. Upon the Arrival of the returned In- 
dians, they were sent unto, and a day and place agreed upon 
when both the English and Indians were to be set at liberty, 
and all to be composed; but the Indians not coming at the 
time appointed, the English waited not for them, but were not 
long gone ere they came, and, by an English Man and two 
Indians, sent a Letter to the next Garison, importing their 
readiness to deliver up the English, and to make satisfaction 
for any hurt or spoil done by them; who from that Garison 
were Fired upon and ill treated, and not seeing how what they 
expected coiild be answered, some of them discover'd other 
English Men on a Neck of Land, near the place appointed to 
meet at, and endeavouring to seize some of them, were en- 
gaged into a Skirmish, where five of the English were killed 
and several of the Indians wounded, who presently after in 
rage killed two of the English Captives. In this manner, and 
no other, was the War begun; whereupon two Troops of Sol- 
diers were raised, and sent to the assistance of those parts 
against the Indians, with Provision and Ammunition necessary 
by those of the Council at Boston, and the Indians first men- 
tioned to be taken, were again sent back and Imprisoned, and 
all in the absence of Sir E. A. Upon his arrival at Boston, and 
being informed of the above, and that such Indians were in 
Prison, a Committee of the Council was appointed to examine, 
and see what Grounds or Cause there was for their Commit- 
ment or Detainer; and the Committee reporting they could 
find none, those Indians were by order of Council set at liberty, 
to be sent to the place from whence they were brought if they 
desired it: As for the mischief said to be sustained by the 
Inhabitants there, it cannot be imputed to those Indians, for 
it was either done while they were in custody, or since the 
Rebellion and Subversion of the Government, from whence 
begins the date of our Miseries; and I have just reason to be- 
lieve, the Author was too far concerned therein, as is evident 
by his directing of his Letters to Simon Broadstreet Esq; 
Governor of the Massathusets, etc., before it was possible for 
him to know that he was so, or could have any ground to be- 
lieve he would be, unless he had contrived or directed it. 

3. There was no endeavours used to keep the People 
ignorant of Affairs in England, nor were any Imprisoned for 



1687-1689] NEW ENGLAND'S FACTION DISCOVERED 257 

dispersing the Prince's Declaration; which was never pub- 
Hckly seen or known to be in New-England, till some time 
after the Insurrection: Tho I have heard, that one Winslow 
arriving at Boston from Nevis, about the beginning of April 
1688, and pretending to shew to several Persons a Written 
Copy of the said Declaration, was sent for before a Justice, 
and being examined about the said Writing, denyed he had 
any such thing; and behaving himself contemptuously, he 
was committed to Prison; and the next Morning producing 
the same Paper to the Justice, he was discharged without any 
further trouble or proceeding; and this was all that was acted 
in New-England, relating to the Prince of Orange's Declara- 
tion; so that there was no grounds or reasons to stir up the 
People to Sedition, but only the ambitious desires and wicked 
inclinations of their former Popular Magistrates and Members, 
to set up their old Arbitrary Commonwealth Government, 
that, freeing themselves from the Authority of England, they 
might without fear of punishment break all the Laws made 
for the encouragement and increase of the Navigation of Eng- 
land, and regulating and securing the Plantation Trade, as is 
sufficiently evident by the several Vessels since arrived from 
Holland, Scotland, Newfoundland, and other places prohibited 
by the Acts of Trade and Navigation. 

And that such was their design, to rend themselves from 
the Crown of England, will appear by the free and open con- 
fession of some well knowing in that Conspiracy; who have 
since declared (before Witnesses of undenyable truth now 
here in England) that the design of seizing upon Sir E. A. and 
subverting Kingly Government in New-England had been 
long contrived and resolved on, and was to have been done 
the beginning of January 1688,^ and that those concerned in 
the late Revolution were then to have acted the like parts, at 
which time was no account of the Piince of Orange's intention 
of coming into England known in that Land. 

4. It cannot be said, that ever any unlawful Levies of 
Money were made upon the Subject under the Government of 
Sir E. A., for all that was raised in his time was by virtue of a 
law made and practised for about Fifty Years before, which 
was continued and confirmed by express command, under the 

1 There is no other certain evidence of a conspiracy formed at this early date. 



258 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

Great Seal of England, for support of the Government, and 
was but a Rate of one Penny in the Pound, to be annually- 
collected by Warrant from the Treasurer, which those who 
lately assumed the Government, tho without any Lawful 
Power or Authority, have so far exceeded, that for about Six 
Months management, they have caused seven Rates and an 
half to be levied; and I have since advice that they have 
ordered Ten Rates more to be exacted. 

5. By the Actings and Proceedings of these New-England 
Reformers, it is easily to be seen, what regard they had to 
Religion, Liberty and Property, having now had the oppor- 
tunity to make themselves Persecutors of the Church of Eng- 
land, as they had before been of all others that did not comply 
with their Independency, whom they punished with Fines, 
Imprisonment, Stripes, Banishment, and Death, and all for 
matters of meer Conscience and Religion only : The Church of 
England, altho commanded to be particularly countenanced 
and encouraged, was wholly destitute of a place to perform 
Divine Service in, until Sir E. A., by advice of the Council, 
borrowed the new Meeting-house in Boston for them, at such 
times when others made no use of it, and afterwards promoted 
and encouraged the building of a New Church for that Con- 
gregation, to avoid all manner of Offence to their dissenting 
Neighbors, which was soon compleated and finished at the par- 
ticular charge of those of the Church of England ; whose num- 
ber daily increasing, they became the envy as well as hatred 
of their Adversaries, who by all ways and means possible, as 
well in their Pulpits as private Discourse, endeavour'd to 
asperse, calumniate, and defame them, and so far did their 
malice and bigotry prevail, that some of them openly and 
publickly hindered and obstructed the Minister in the perform- 
ance of the funeral Rites, to such as had lived and dyed in the 
Communion of the Church of England:^ And a most scan- 
dalous Pamphlet was soon after Printed and Published by 
Cotton Mather,^ Son of the beforementioned, J. M., intituled 

^Sewall in his Diary mentions two funerals conducted according to the 
Book of Common Prayer, but he records no disturbances. Randolph frequently 
speaks of "obstructions," but gives no facts. 

2 It was Increase Mather, not his son, who wrote on the "Unlawfulness of 
the Common Prayer Worship." See The Andros Tracts, I. 180. 



1687-1689] NEW ENGLAND'S FACTION DISCOVERED 259 

the unlawfulness of the Common-prayer Worship, wherein he 
affirms, and labours to prove the same to be both Popery and 
Idolatiy, and several scandalous Libels both against the Church 
and Government were spread and scattered up and down the 
Country, insinuating into the Common People, that the Gov- 
ernor and all of the Church of England were Papists and 
Idolaters, and to stir them up to Faction and Rebellion, for 
which the said Cotton Mather, and others, were bound over 
to answer according to Law; but was superseded by their 
Insurrection. And the Justices having issued their Warrant 
for the observation of the 30th of January^ pursuant to the 
Statute, the same was called in and suppressed by Captain 
Waite Winthorp one of the Council, who in the Commotion, 
appeared the chief Man and Head of the Faction against the 
Government, which he twice swore to maintain and support, 
and tho at the time of the Revolution most of the Principal 
Officers in the Government were of the Independent and Pres- 
byterian Party, yet their malice and fury was not shewn to 
any of them, but only used and exercised against those of the 
Church of England, whom (as well the Governor as other 
Officers of the Government, and principal Members of that 
Church) they seized and most barbarously Im.prisoned. The 
Church it self had great difficulty to withstand their fury, re- 
ceiving the marks of their indignation and scorn, by having 
the Windows broke to pieces, and the Doors and Walls daubed 
and deffied with dung, and other filth, in the rudest and basest 
manner imaginable,^ and the Minister, for his safety, was 
forced to leave the Country and his Congregation, and go for 
England; the Persons Imprisoned were kept and detained, 
without any Warrant, Mittimus or cause shewn, and several 
of them had their Offices and Houses broke open, their Goods 

^ The 30th of January was the day of the execution of Charles I. 

2 It is diflScult to get at the truth of this charge. In addition to the state- 
ment made in the text, we have the assertion by the AngHcans that "the deluded 
people broke into the church to search for the images they supposed we wor- 
ship'd." Mather replied, "All the mischief done is the breaking of a few Quarels 
of glass by idle Boys," but Mather's Vindication is not convincing, and Whitmore 
suspects that the charge had a "basis of fact." Rev. Samuel Myles wrote in 
1690, "Our church is perpetually abused, the windows broken as soon as mended"; 
and again, "The little chapel for the Church of England ... is battered and shat- 
tered most lamentably already" {Cal. St. P. Col, 1689-1692, §§ 1217, 1239). 



260 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

and Estates taken away, spoiled, and embezelled: And when 
application was made to the new assumed Authority, for the 
benefit of the Habeas Corpus Act, and other Laws made for 
the Liberty of the Subject, and security of their Property; the 
same was denyed with this reason given amongst others after- 
wards there pubHshed in Print: that till the unhappy time 
of Sir Edmund's Government, the Laws of England were 
never used, nor any Habeas Corpus granted in New-England, 
and therefore not to be expected then; and about Ten Weeks 
after their Confinement, several of the Chief Officers were by 
the House of Representatives voted not bailable, for no other 
cause or pretended Crimes than for being imployed by the 
Crown, having therein so faithfully and truly behaved them- 
selves, that none could justly lay any Crime to their Charge. 
By this means many suffered Ten Months Imprisonment, and 
others less, being turn'd in and out of Goal, as the Arbitrary 
pleasure of their New Rulers should be verbally known: In 
their new Erected Courts, they have publickly declared, they 
have nothing to do with the Laws of England, and several of 
Their Majesties Subjects have been not only Fined and Im- 
prisoned by the Arbitrary Will of the Magistrates, without 
any lawful Tryal by a Jury of their Peers, as the Laws of the 
Land direct; but for pretended Crimes sentenced to Death, 
without any lawful Authority or Legal Form of proceedings, 
and some of them Executed.^ 

6. It is very true, that since the Imprisonment of the Gov- 
ernor, and alteration of the Government in New-England, the 
whole County of Cornwall, great part of the Province of Maine, 
and part of the Province of New-hampshire, are over-run and 
destroyed by the Indians; but the occasion thereof has been 
by that Insurrection, and the withdrawing of the Forces left 
in those Parts by Sir E. A. and deserting the Garisons there, 
which was also the loss of the Fort at Pemaquid, and above 
three Hundred of His Majesty's Subjects, and notwithstanding 
the Malice of the Author cannot be the least imputation on 

1 Andros made the same charge, above, p. 235. Randolph says : "They have 
condemned one man to be hanged another burnt in the hand : branded a young 
woman in the forehead . . . and fined Mr. Cutter," and again, "They have pro- 
ceeded to exercise the soverain powers: having executed two persons" (Goodrick, 
Randolph, VI. 326; VII. 339). 



1687-1689] NEW ENGLAND'S FACTION DISCOVERED 261 

Sir E. A., who during the time of his Government kept the 
whole Dominion from injury, save what was done at first by 
surprizal, as by every honest Man will be confessed, for what 
was done in releasing the Indians before mentioned was not 
an Act of Favour but Justice, nor done by him alone, but with 
advice of the Council, and I can see no reason, why either the 
Indians or English should be Imprisoned or Restrained of 
their Liberty without sufficient cause, or why if one Indian 
commits an Offence, all must be blamed or punished for it, 
tho they are things too often used and practised by our old 
Charters in New-England. 

Neither were the numbers or quality of those Indians ca- 
pable of doing such mischiefs, tho the follies and madness of the 
People since their Revolution have encouraged and provoked 
many to be their Enemies, and increased their numbers, and 
no doubt given the French fair advantages to come into their 
assistance. 

The Fort of Pemaquid was burnt by the Indians, and the 
Guns sometime after fetched from thence, by some of the 
Forces sent from Boston, and brought thither by them, so that 
what is mentioned about the Dutch Privateer is wholly false. 

7. As to the pretended bloody Fight, said to be between 
the English and Indians, it was only after this manner: A 
Party of about three hundred English and Friend Indians, 
under the command of Captain Benjamin Church,^ being over- 
night landed at a Town called Falmouth^ in Cascobay, in the 
Province of Maine, the next Morning early a Party of Indians 
of about two hundred came to attack that place, who meeting 
with one Anthony Brackett and his two Sons going to his 
Farm, a little distant from the Town,^ they Fired and Killed 
them, and by that alarmed the place; and thereupon a Party 
was sent to discover, who advised what they were, and that 

^ Benjamin Church was the most conspicuous Indian fighter of his day. 
He served as captain in King PhiUp's War and contrived the ambush that re- 
sulted in PhiHp's death. He was commissioned colonel by Governor Dudley in 
1704 and died in 1718. 

2 Portland. 

3 Anthony Brackett had a farm at Black Cove toward the point on the west 
aide of Portland harbor. Church's fight there with the eastern Indians is known 
as the "battle of Brackett's Woods." The account given in the text is quite in- 
accurate. See Narratives of the Indian Wars, in this series, p. 202. 



262 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

they were very near the Town; the whole number of Men 
being all called together had Ammunition dehvered them, but 
by reason of the unsizableness of their Guns and Shot, they 
were forced to beat their Bullets into Slugs, which made it 
late before they could March to the Enemy, who in the mean 
time had the opportunity to post themselves advantageously 
behind Fences, Hedges, Old Trees, etc., and in that manner 
they engaged; and after about two hours dispute the Indians 
retreated into a small swamp, and our Forces left them with 
the loss of Eleven Men, and Seven wounded, of which Five 
after dyed ; but it was not known that one Indian was killed : 
And this is all we can brag of in that Service, which was only 
fortunate, in that the Forces were there, when the Indians 
came to attack the Place, which else probably they would have 
carried, tho it's beUeved, had our Forces been ready early to 
have attacked and pursued the Enemy, some greater advantage 
might have been gained, but by late advice I am informed 
that Place is also deserted. 

There is little dependence on those we call our Friend In- 
dians, for they are as great Strangers in the Eastern Country 
as the English, and will not travel or venture farther than 
they, tho being used to the Woods may be quicker sighted to 
discover the Enemy. You may perceive the fiery Zeal of the 
Author and his Correspondent, who will not admit of a chari- 
table Expression or Character of his suffering Neighbours, 
but after they have been the cause of all their Miseries and 
Ruine, must expect no other comfort from them than to be 
accounted and termed Heathenish English Plantations; for 
which I cannot conceive any reason, unless that many in those 
Parts have been differently educated from those of Boston, 
and are of the Church of England, whose Forefathers, for that 
very cause only, were forced to remove so far to escape the 
lash of their Persecutors in the Massathusets Colony. 

8. We have no reason to brag of our Armies Pursuit after 
the Enemy, for it was never known that any Party last Summer 
went twenty Miles from our Settlements (or Place where they 
had done us mischief) after them, neither, according to the 
methods taken, would it avail if they had; for tho they knew 
the Indians are in Arms, and taking all the Opportunities to 
attack and destroy them, yet no suitable Provision was made 



1687-1689] NEW ENGLAND'S FACTION DISCOVERED 263 

in our out-Towns and Frontiers for their Security and Defence, 
but after Advice given to Boston of a Town or Settlement 
being burn'd and destroyed, in about a Fortnights time an 
Army or Party of about two or three hundred Men would be 
sent to the Place to see if it were true or not, and whether the 
Indians did not stay for their coming; which Army of ours 
usually abide thereabouts till they have eaten and consumed 
what stock of Cattle or Sheep the Indians had left, and then 
return home again. 

That any Captives escaped from the Indians affirm, that 
the Indians say they are encouraged by some Gentlemen in 
Boston vigorously to prosecute the War, is mere Invention, 
and a most false and groundless Imputation, unless by such 
Gentlemen in Boston are meant Foster and Waterhouse, two 
of their own Party, who being of the Conspiracy to subvert 
the Government, sometime in March, about a Month before 
the same was put in Execution, loaded a Brigantine with Pro- 
vision and Ammunition at Boston, and entered her for Ber- 
mudoes, but sent her to the Eastward amongst the French and 
Indians, then in actual War with us, and furnished and sup- 
plied them therewith, when the Governor and the Forces were 
out against them and had reduced them to the greatest want 
and necessity both for Provision and Ammunition; and soon 
after the Revolution, that Vessel returned from those Parts 
with her Loading of Bever and Peltry, which was publickly 
known and talked, but no notice taken thereof, the grievous 
effects of which, the Country well knows, and are since very 
sensible thereof. 

The two Captives that last escaped and came to Boston 
related, that by the Service done by Sir E. A. the last Winter 
was Twelve-months, against the Indians, they were reduced 
to that necessity both for want of Ammunition and Provision, 
that in the Spring following they resolved to come in and sur- 
render themselves at Mercy, which they no doubt had done 
accordingly, if the Revolution at Boston had not happened, 
the Forces being drawn off from the Eastern Parts, Garrisons 
deserted, and they supplied with Ammunition and Provision 
from Boston, which was the only encouragement they had to 
renew and continue the War upon us, and has much increased 
the Numbers of our Enemies. 



264 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

'Tis true, the Mohawks (tho a small) are a warlike Nation, 
and have been long Enemies to the French in Canada, and now 
in War with them; but that no ways affects us in New- 
England any otherwise than as it is some Diversion to the 
French; for those Indians that war against us are in a direct 
opposite part of the Country, remote from them, and can be 
supplied from Canada, Port-Royal, and Nova Scotia, altho 
those Mohawks endeavour to obstruct it; and I could never 
hear any Offer made by them to that purpose, or that they 
would engage against our Enemies, for we never had any Ac- 
quaintance or Correspondency with them, to influence them 
to our Assistance, they being very remote from Boston, and 
always under the Government of New- York : but I have been 
informed by Letters from Persons of good credit at Albany, 
that when the Agents sent from Boston to treat with the 
Mohawks, and renew their Peace and Friendship with them, 
and desire their Assistance, proposed the same, the Mohawks 
rephed, That it was unnecessaiy for them to come so far to 
renew their Peace, since to the Indians Knowledge there had 
been no War between them, and that they had not only by 
Words, but by Action, manifested their good Heart to the 
English, particularly to New-England, since they had by 
means of the Government of New- York engaged themselves 
in the last Indian War, for their Interest, against the Indians 
their Enemies, by which means much Christian Blood was 
saved, altho but little notice of their Service has been taken by 
those who had the benefit thereof; that they were then in 
War against the French, and would not increase the number 
of their Enemies, until they certainly knew that those Eastern 
Indians assisted the French against them. This is the sum 
and truth of that Negotiation, which cost us above four hun- 
dred Pounds Expence; and what Advantage or Credit we are 
like to get thereby, all Men may judge. 

We of New England (I find) are too apt to boast of what 
we neither understand nor have any assurance of, and build 
too much on mistaken Notions and false Grounds, as in this 
Case of the Indians. 

9. The Story about the Mohawks, Jesuits, and Eclipse of 
the Sun, has not been heard of or acted in any part of New- 
England, but, as I am informed, is an old Story taken out of 



1687-1689] NEW ENGLAND'S FACTION DISCOVERED 265 

some History of the Spanish Indies, and only inserted by the 
Author to enlarge his strange News, and fill up his Paper. 

But it must be admitted, that with those Mohawks and 
other Indians several French Priests and Jesuits have dwelt 
and inhabited, and endeavoured to propagate their Religion 
amongst them, which is more than any of our English Priests 
or Teachers have done; for altho by the Piety of our Fore- 
fathers, considerable Sums of Money have been given, and a 
Corporation erected for the Evangelizing of the Indians in 
New-England,^ a very small progress hath been hitherto made 
therein; and now scarce any Endeavours or proper Means 
used at all for their Conversion, tho large Sums of Money are 
annually sent over and disposed of amongst the Brotherhood, 
on that pretence, which the Government, or those chiefly con- 
cerned therein, would do well to enquire after, now there are 
so many of that Country here capable to give an Account 
thereof, that so good and pious an Undertaking may be neither 
neglected nor perverted. 

10. It is too true, that great Devastations have been made 
in New-England by the Indians since the Revolution there, 
which those that subverted their Majesties Government have 
been and are the sole occasion of; and that the Fort of Pema- 
quid, a considerable Frontier next the French, hath been taken, 
the whole County of Cornwal, greatest part of the Province 
of Maine, and part of the Province of Hampshire, are destroyed 
and deserted, besides other Mischiefs in the Massathusets 
Colony within thirty Miles of Boston ; the loss and damage of 
all which, when I left New England, was not computed at less 

1 The Company for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Indians was 
incorporated by act of Parliament July 27, 1649, largely through the influence 
of Edward Winslow. At the Restoration the act of incorporation became void 
and the company defunct, but a revival was effected, through the exertions of 
Robert Boyle, by order in Council, April 10, 1661 {Acts P. C. Col., I., § 510), the 
charter passing the seals February 7, 1662. The new title was "the Company 
for Propagacion of the Gospell in New England, and the Partes adjacent in Amer- 
ica," shortened in later years to "The New England Company." After the 
American Revolution the company transferred its operations to New Brunswick 
and other parts of British America. It is still active, being commonly known as 
the "Society for Propagating the Gospel in America," but its legal title is that 
given above. It must not be confused with the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts, the well-known S. P. G. 



266 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1687-1689 

than one hundred thousand Pounds, besides the loss of above 
three hundred of their Majesties Subjects, and the whole Fish, 
Mast, and Lumber Trade, and all Out-parts forced to Garisons. 

But that so considerable a Force (as is pretended) was sent 
out against the said Indians, is a Misinformation; for there 
was not one Man sent from Connecticott last Summer, nor 
had they resolved to be concerned in the War, tho much per- 
suaded thereto by those of the Massathusets : and when I left 
those Parts, and for some Months before, there was not a 
Soldier out; and they have reason enough to apprehend an 
Attack from the French as well as Indians, in the Spring, so 
soon as the Rivers are open, and the Snow off the Ground; 
which (by their present ill Management of AiTairs, want of 
Authority, and the many Divisions amongst them) they will 
not be in a posture to resist, nor to defend and secure them- 
selves and Country. 

11. I did hear before I left New-England, that about sixty 
Men were ordered to march for Albany from the several Towns 
on Connecticott River; but whether they were to assist those 
of Albany against the French, or to reduce them under the 
Subjection of that Rebel Lesher,^ (who by the evil Instigation 
of those of Boston and Connecticott had usurped the Govern- 
ment of New York, which those of Albany always refused to 
submit to, but continued as they were,)^ was a great Question, 
and can only be known by their Fruits and Service. 

The base imputation, which the unworthy Author of that 
scurrilous Paper would cast on Sir E. A. and other Persons 
concerned in Their Majesties Government, I think are not 
worth my taking any particular notice of, since both his and 
their Actions do plainly shew them of whom he so speaks to 
be Faithful and Loyal Subjects: And from the whole scope 
of proceedings in New-England, it is most plain that the late 
Subverters of the Government had no manner of regard to 
Their Majesty's Interest or Service, but when they had as far 
as possible ruined and destroyed the same, thought themselves 
obliged to endeavour their own Security and Preservation, 
which if His Majesty doth not speedily help by settling of the 
Government, and giving them further assistance from hence, 
they are not in a condition to maintain, but will endanger the 

^ Leisler. ^ See below, p. 



1687-1689] NEW ENGLAND'S FACTION DISCOVERED 267 

loss of the whole Country; As is evident by the farther late 
advice we have of the French and Indians Incursions upon 
those parts, the loss of Schenectade,^ a considerable frontier 
Town near Albany, and of several settlements on Piscataqua 
River, with about two hundred more of Their Majesties Sub- 
jects killed and carried away Captives, and the several other 
Parties of French and Indians, we hear are out, designed to 
fall on other parts of that Country, and feared on Albany it 
self. 

This Sir, is the true, tho miserable State and Condition of 
that Country, as can be particularly made appear whenever 
it shall be inquired into, and must pray your Assistance to 
endeavor a Redress of its present inconveniences, and that we 
may obtain Their Majesty's favour for a happy settlement, 
that so considerable a Dominion, on the prosperity of which, 
depends the Welfare of Their Majesty's other West-India 
Plantations, may not be ruined and destroyed for want of 
Their Gracious Protection. Begging your Pardon for this 
tedious discourse, I presume to subscribe my self, 

Honoured Sir, 

Your Most Humble Servant, 

C. D. 
London, Printed for J. Hindmarsh, at the Sign of the Golden Ball, 
over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill. 1690. 

1 Schenectady was taken in February, 1690. 



INCREASE MATHER'S BRIEF ACCOUNT 
OF THE AGENTS, 1691 



INTRODUCTION 

During Andros's administration some of the prominent 
men of the colony, dissatisfied with the curtailment of their 
former privileges, determined to appeal to England for re- 
lief. Increase Mather, the influential pastor of the Old North 
Church, was selected to bear to the king, James II., the com- 
plaints of the colony, and to obtain, if possible, a restoration 
of the charter. He was admirably adapted to the task, having 
served as agent in England only a few years before, while his 
pleasing address and familiarity with the men and ways of 
the court at Whitehall were certain to stand him in good 
stead in the work to be done. He accepted the mission with 
reluctance, for he was fully aware of its difficulties; but he 
made no secret of his journey, informing Andros of his plans 
and openly preparing for departure. 

Randolph, however, determined, if possible, to prevent his 
going, by causing his arrest on an old charge of defamation. 
A forged letter, purporting to be written by Mather in Decem- 
ber, 1683, and containing utterances favorable to the enemies 
of the crown, had been put in circulation in England, where 
it had been printed in part by Le Strange in his Observator. 
In a letter sent to some one in New England, Mather had im- 
plied that Randolph himself might be the forger, and in con- 
sequence the latter had brought an action for £500 damages, 
but the jury had found for the defendant. Randolph now re- 
vived the old charge, on what legal ground is not clear, and 
brought a new action. On the eve of Mather's voyage he 
persuaded Justice BuUivant to send an officer to arrest the 

271 



272 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

minister. The attempt failed. Mather, in disguise, withdrew 
at night to the house of Colonel Phillips, in Charlestown, and 
thence was taken, by certain young men of his congregation, 
to Winnisimmet (Chelsea), where he was transferred to the 
ship The President April 7, 1688. After an unpleasant voy- 
age he and his son Samuel landed at Weymouth and reached 
London May 25. 

At London Mather found two of the former Massachusetts 
assistants, Elisha Hutchinson and Samuel Nowell, the latter 
of whom had become somewhat notorious as the author of a 
sermon, entitled "Abraham in Arms," advocating the use of the 
sword in defending the civil and religious liberties of Massa- 
chusetts. With them he joined in a petition to the king, 
August 10, 1688, presenting certain proposals for the relief of 
the colony. The petition was brought before the committee 
of the Privy Council, the Lords of Trade, and the agents were 
summoned to appear, but before any action could be taken 
James 11. had fled from England, and the old regime was at 
an end. 

Mather now turned to the new government, and through 
the aid of William Jephson, private secretary to WilHam of 
Orange and a cousin of Lord Wharton, a friend of New Eng- 
land, obtained an introduction to the prince. With Jephson's 
aid he and Sir William Phips were able to prevent the despatch 
to New England of a circular letter, designed for all the col- 
onies, confirming the former governors in their positions. On 
February 18, 1689, a few days after William and Mary had 
been proclaimed sovereigns of England, he and Phips sent to 
the king a petition asking for the restoration of the ancient 
privileges of the colony. The petition was referred to the 
Lords of Trade, the membership of which had been changed 
in 1689, and by them, after consultation with the agents, the 
decision was reached that a new governor should be appointed 
for New England and a new charter granted, which, while 



INTRODUCTION 273 

preserving the rights and Hberties of the colonists, should 
strengthen the dependence of the colony on the crown. 

As such a decision was wholly unsatisfactory to Mather, 
he turned his efforts in a new direction. Sir Henry Ashurst, 
a good friend to New England, was a member of the Conven- 
tion Parliament that had met on January 22 ; and acting under 
Mather's influence, Ashurst caused a bill for restoring corpora- 
tions to their ancient rights and privileges to be amended in 
the house by the addition to the title of the words "and New 
England and other the Plantations." This bill, reintroduced 
in the autunrn session, was passed January 10, 1690, and sent 
to the House of Lords. There it reached the committee stage 
January 23, but such powerful opposition arose to those 
phrases in the bill which declared the old coiporations to have 
been illegally dissolved that progress was delayed, and Parlia- 
ment dissolved, February 6, without action. Thus, says 
Mather, "a whole year's Sisyphean labor came to nothing." 

In March two new agents, Cooke and Oakes, representa- 
tives of the extreme colonial wing, were sent over from Massa- 
chusetts, and a plan was broached of obtaining by legal action 
a reversal of the decree annulling the charter. But a division 
of opinion among the agents prevented the prosecution of this 
plan, which in any case would have failed. No remedy re- 
mained except at the hands of the king, and success in that 
direction required a favorable recommendation from the Lords 
of Trade and the issue of an order in Council. During the early 
months of 1690, the Lords of Trade took the business of the 
colonies into active consideration, and soon made it evident 
that they were not favorable to a complete restoration of self- 
government in Massachusetts, but were determined to insist 
on such a government in New England, New York, and the 
Jerseys as would enable the people there to carr}^ on defensive 
and offensive operations against the French. 

The situation was one demanding immediate action. Ap- 



274 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

peals and petitions for and against the charter were coming 
in from New England, the people of Massachusetts were be- 
coming impatient with Mather because of the delay, and the 
Lords of Trade were urging the king to make his will known. 
The arrival of Andros and the others led to lively tilts at the 
Plantation Office between the agents and their enemies, and 
the dismissal of the charges against the late governor and his 
colleagues, because the statement of charges was unsigned, 
showed that the agents were not acting in harmony. Mather 
and Ashurst were willing to accept a remodelled government, 
while Cooke and Oakes were asserting confidently that the 
king would restore their ancient rights and privileges. 

In April, 1690, the Lords of Trade took up in earnest the 
question of the charter, and from that time until the middle 
of September, 1691, Mather's efforts were directed to the one 
great end of obtaining the best terms that he could for the 
colony. The contest was a vigorous one. The Lords of Trade 
drew up their minutes for a charter, and Mather repHed with 
objections. Mather presented his proposals and the Lords of 
Trade rejected item after item, compelling him to give way on 
many points; but by frequent and determined protest he 
saved a clause here and there, even after the draught had gone 
to the attorney general. A passage at arms took place in 
September over the boundaries, when New Hampshire was 
made an independent colony, but with the failure of an attempt 
to obtain rights of coinage for the colony the contest was over. 
On October 7, 1691, the charter passed the great seal. 

In order to defend his course against the criticism which 
the new charter aroused in the colony, Mather drew up the 
following account of what had happened in England. Its ac- 
curacy is beyond impeachment, as every statement of fact 
regarding Mather's relations with the authorities in England 
can be supported by references to the journals of the houses, 
the acts of the Privy Council, and the journal and papers of 



INTRODUCTION 275 

the Lords of Trade. As a defense of his own course the nar- 
rative is convincing, and as an argument in behalf of the new 
charter it is a state paper of high rank. With it should be 
compared Cotton Mather's Parentator or Memoirs of Remark- 
ahles in the Life and Death of the Ever Memorable Dr. Increase 
Mather, where the son repeats at somewhat greater length the 
account that the father here gives of his experiences in London. 
For a history of the events preceding and accompanying the 
issue of the charter, Hutchinson's chapter {History of Massa- 
chusetts, I., ch. HI.) has almost the value of a primary source 
and has never been surpassed. 

Mather's Brief Account was printed in London in 1691, 
and reprinted in 1869 by Whitmore in The Andros Tracts, II. 
271-296. The text here presented is from a rare copy of the 
original pamphlet now in the John Carter Brown Library. 



INCREASE MATHER'S BRIEF ACCOUNT 
OF THE AGENTS, 1691 

A Brief Account concerning Several of the Agents of New-Eng- 
land, their Negotiation at the Court of England : with Some 
Remarks on the New Charter Granted to the Colony of 
Massachusets, shewing That all things duely Considered, 
Greater Priviledges than what are therein contained, could 
not at this Time rationally he expected by the People there. 

London, Printed in the Year 1691. 

I MAY rationally suppose that an Account of my Negotia- 
tion in England, where I have been attending the great Affair 
of New-England for more than Three Years, will be expected 
from me. 

When I began my Voyage from Boston for London (which 
was in April, 1688) New-England was in a very deplorable 
Condition. He that was then Governour there acted by an 
Illegal and Arbitrary Commission; and invaded Liberty and 
Property after such a manner, as no man could say any thing 
was his own. Wise men beheved it to be a necessary Duty to 
use aU Lawful means to obtain some Relief and Remedy 
against those growing Evils. This could not be done, without 
first acquainting him who was then in the Throne, with the 
miserable State of his Subjects m that Territory. No man of 
common Prudence could be insensible of the Hazard and 
Danger that would attend his Person and Family, in appear- 
ing at Court as a Complainant against a Governour that was 
King James his Creatm'e. 

Nevertheless, being encouraged by many of the principal 
Gentlemen in New-England, I resolved to venture, tho I 
perished in the Attempt, rather than to see my Countrey 
ruin'd. 

In June following, I had the favour of waiting on the late 
King : I must acknowledge he was very kind and Obliging in 

276 



1689] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT 277 

his Expressions, giving me Liberty of Access in private to him 
whenever I desired it; seeming to wonder at the things I ac- 
quainted him with, and professing that no man in the World 
should be more ready to relieve the People Interceded for, 
than he would. Notwithstanding which, nothing was done 
for them all that Summer. And indeed, good words were as 
much as any one under my Character had reason to expect in 
King James his Court. 

At the time of the happy Revolution in England, (being in- 
troduced by the Right Honourable my Lord Wharton,^ of 
whose kindness all New-England has cause to be sensible, his 
Lordship having upon all Occasions concerned himself for them) 
I made my humble Addresses to his present Majesty (then 
Prince of Orange) in behaK of that Countrey. There was a 
Circular Letter drawn up to be sent to all the Plantations, and 
in particular to New-England, to confirm those Governours in 
their Places till further Order. Mr. Jephson (the then Princes 
Secretary) shewed me the Letter. I assured him that New- 
England would be undone, if that Letter should come to them. 
Within a few dayes he told me that he had acquainted His 
Highness with what I said to him: Who had thereupon Or- 
dered him not to transmit that Letter to New-England,^ But 
to all the other Plantations where there were Protestant Gover- 
nours. This was certainly an happy turn for New-England. 
How would their Oppressors have insulted over them, had 
such a Letter come into their hands ! I knew that whilest 
that People enjoyed their Old Charter they prospered wonder- 
fully: But that since they were deprived of the Priviledges 
therein contained, their ruins were multiplyed; and that the 
Inhabitants were generally desirous of being resettled as in the 
days of Old : for which cause I resolved to do what was in me 
that it might be so. 

1 Philip, Lord Wharton, was a Puritan and an old-time friend of New Eng- 
land. 

2 This circular letter was drawn up "att St. Jameses the 12th day of Jany 
1688/9" and signed "W. H. Prince of Orange, By his Highnesses Command, 
Wm Jephson." Attached to the copy designed for New England and addressed 
^'to Sr Edm. Andros, for Officers Civill and Military, except Papists, to keep 
their Imploym'ts, etc." is a memorandum in another hand, "Upon the Applica- 
tion of Sr. Wm Phipps and Mr. Mather this Letter was stopped and ordered not 
to be sent" {C. 0. 5 : 905, p. 42). 



278 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1690 

Whenever I had the Honour of speaking to the King, 
whether at White-Hall, Hampton-Court or Kensington,^ I 
still mention'd the Charter, and always found that the Eng 
(although he judged it would be for the Advantage of New- 
England to have a Governor Commission'd by his Majesty, 
yet that he) was graciously inclin'd to Restore Charter- 
Priviledges unto his Subjects in that Territory. Once, at 
Hampton-Court, his Majesty was pleased to bid me rest as- 
sured, that it should be so, if it were in his Power to cause it 
to be done. I advised with many wise Men about this mo- 
mentous Affair, whose Judgment was, That the best and most 
effectual Course would be, to endeavour a Reversion of the 
Judgment against the Charter of the Massachusets, by an 
Act of Parliament; and after that, to Petition the King for 
such additional Priviledges as should be thought needful. I 
prayed Sir Henry Ashurst,^ whom I knew to be a worthy 
Member of the Convention (as well as of this present) Parlia- 
ment, to concern himself for the good People in that Countrey : 
Which he did without much intreaty, being of himself forward 
to do Good : Nor is it possible for New-England ever duely to 
Recompense him for his sincere Intentions and assiduous 
Endeavours to serve them. We both of us spake to many of 
the principal leading Men in that Parliament : The Issue of 
which was. The Commons of England Voted the Taking away 
the Charters belonging to New-England (as of those in Eng- 
land) to be Illegal, and a Grievance, and that they ought to 
be Restored. A Bill was drawn up accordingly, which Passed 
the House of Commons, and was sent to the House of Lords 
for their Concurrence, on January the Tenth, 1689.^ A great 
Interest, in behalf of New-England, had been made amongst 
the Lords; but that Parliament being unexpectedly Prorogued 
and Dissolv'd, a whole Year's Sisyphean Labour came to 
nothing. 

When this present Parliament met, it was, for some Rea- 

^ The three royal residences. 

* Sir Henry Ashurst was the son of Henry Ashurst, a wealthy non-conformist 
merchant of London, who had for many years been interested in the welfare of 
New England. The Convention Parliament was that of 1689, which had settled 
the crown upon William and Mary. The present had convened in March, 1690. 

3 1689/1690. The Convention Parliament ended its sessions on January 27. 



1690] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT , 279 

sons, thought not adviseable to trouble them with the Affair 
of New-England. Some Essays were then made, to see if by 
a Writ of Error in Judgment the Case relating to the Massa- 
chusets might be brought out of Chanceiy^ into the Kings- 
Bench. But an unexpected Providence rendred an Attempt 
of that Nature vain. Never did I see a more signal Hand of 
Heaven^ in any Matter, than in Disappointing all Designs, 
and Frustrating all Hopes for Obtaining the so much desired 
full Restitution of all Charter-Priviledges, by a Reversion of 
the Judgment entred against them. There was now but one 
way left for the Settlement of New-England, sc. To implore 
the King's Royal Favour. 

It was not in the King's Power to Reverse the Judgment 
against the Old Charter; nevertheless, his Majesty had Power 
to Re-incorporate his Subjects, thereby granting them a New 
Charter, which should contain all the Old, with New and more 
Ample Priviledges. 

This, Three^ of the Agents of the Massachusets Colony 
Petitioned for; the Right Honourable the Earl of Monmouth 
condescending to deliver that Petition with his own Noble 
Hand. After which, through the Intercession of a Great and 
Worthy Personage, the King was graciously pleased to referr 
the Affair of New-England to the Consideration of the two 
Chief Justices, with his Majesty's Attorney, and SoUicitor- 
General.* They Four met three or four times : They were so 
kind as to give me leave to be present with them at all their 
Consultations. The Heads of the Charter belonging to the 
Massachusets Colony, and of that granted to Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges,* were presented in Writing; together with what addi- 
tional Priviledges we did at present pray for. They all thought 
there was nothing Unreasonable or Prejudicial to the King's 
Interest in what was requested. These things were presented 

^ The Massachusetts charter had been vacated in 1684 by decree in Chancery 
upon a writ of scire facias (above, p. 235, note 1). 

2 Probably referring to the differences of opinion among the agents. 

' Mather, Ashurst, and Oakes. Cooke refused to sign. The date of this 
petition is not given (Cal St. P. Col, 1689-1692, § 1276). 

* The chief justices were Sir John Holt for the king's bench, and Sir Henry 
Pollexfen for the common pleas. The attorney general was Sir George Treby, 
and the solicitor general, Sir George Somers. 

' The charter of the council for New England, 1620. 



280 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

to the King by my Lord Chief Justice Holt. The King ordered 
him to present them to the Council; which was done on the 
First of January last ; ^ when they were referred to the Con- 
sideration of the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee 
for Foreign Plantations. 

Immediately upon this, the King began his Royal Voyage 
for Holland; untHl whose Happy Return nothing could be 
effected as to the Settlement of New-England. In the mean 
time, I drew up several Reasons for the Confirmation of Char- 
ter-Priviledges granted to the Massachusets Colony; which I 
dispersed among the Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable 
Privy-Council; and did particularly address my self to the 
greatest part of them, humbly prajdng their Lordships Favour 
to New-England, in a Matter which seemed so Just and Equi- 
table : And had assurance from many of them, that whenever 
the Affair of New-England should come before the Council- 
Board, they would do what in them was, that Ancient Rights 
and Priviledges might be Restored. 

Moreover, a Noble Personage did me the Honour to in- 
troduce me to the Queen, that so I might have an Opportunity 
to soUicit Her Majesty's Royal Favour towards her Subjects 
in New-England. I assured her Majesty, That there are none 
better affected to their Majesties Government, and that on 
that account they had been exposed to the Rage of the French, 
and other Enemies to the present Government in England; 
and that the King having referred the Consideration of the 
Affair of New-England to the two Chief Justices, with the 
Attorney and SoUicitor-General, we only prayed, that what 
they thought was reasonable, might be granted to us. 

The Queen graciously replied. That that was a reasonable 
Request, and that she hoped it would be done for us, only it 
could not be done but by the Council. Her Majesty moreover 
assured me, That she had divers times spoken to the King in 
behalf of New-England; and that, for her own part, she de- 
sired that that People might not only have what was Just done 
for them, but that something of Favour might be shown to 
them. — I the rather mention this, that so all New-England 
may be excited to Pray for so Gracious a Queen. 

When the King returned to England, he stayed not there 

1 January 1, 1691. 



1691] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT 281 

above a Fortnight '} In which time I had twice the Honour to 
wait on his Majesty in behalf of New-England. The First 
time I only delivered the last Address from the General-Court 
at Boston, viz. that of Decemb. 16, 1690, and a Petition from 
many Merchants in London, praying. That Charter-Priviledges 
might be restored to New-England; and that some Frigats 
might be sent for the Security of those Coasts. The Second 
time, I humbly prayed the Continuance of his Royal Favour 
to his Subjects in that Territory. The King was then pleased 
to ask me. What I would have to be done for New-England? 
I humbly put his Majesty in mind of our Old Charter-Privi- 
ledges: And that if they should, by his Royal Favour and 
Goodness, be restored, that would make his Majesty's Name 
Great in those Ends of the Earth, as long as the World should 
stand : That none of his Subjects prayed more for his Royal 
Person, and for the Success of his Arms, than they did : That 
they were all of them Protestants, and that they differed in 
lesser Matters from some others, being of those that were called 
Presbyterians, and Congregational-Men: That his Majesty, 
in his great Wisdom, had considered the Circumstances of 
England, and the Circumstances of Scotland : ^ That, according 
to his Royal Wisdom, he would consider the Circumstances 
of New-England also; and that such Rulers would not be 
agreeable to them, as were very proper to the other Enghsh 
Plantations. The King replied to me. That within two or 
three days he expected a Report from the Committee of Lords 
for Foreign Plantations,^ and that he should then see what 
could be done. 

Two days after this, (viz. on April the 30th, 1691) it was 
by the Lords of the Committee proposed to the King, Whether 
he would have the People in New-England make what Laws, 
and appoint what Officers They pleased? Or, Whether He 
would not appoint a Governour of his own, who should have 
a Negative Voice on all Acts of Government ? The King was 
very inquisitive to know whether he might, without any 
Breach of Law, set a Governor over that Colony: (For we 

1 April, 1691. 

2 In accordance with which he had consented to the estabhshment of the 
Presbyterian Church as the State Church of Scotland. 

3 The Lords of Trade. 



282 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

have a King now that will not Act contrary to Law.) The 
Lord Chief Justice, and some other of the Council, answer'd, 
That whatever might be the Merit of the Cause, inasmuch as 
the Charter of Massachusets Colony, in New-England, stood 
vacated by a Judgment against them, it was certainly in the 
King's Power to put them under what Form of Government 
he should think best for them. The King then said. That he 
was desirous to promote the Welfare of New-England, as well 
as of England; and that he believed it would be for the Good 
and Advantage of his Subjects in that Colony, to be under a 
Governour appointed by himself : Nevertheless, That he would 
have the Agents of New-England Nominate a Person that 
should be agreeable to the Temper and Inclinations of the 
People there; only that, at this time, it was necessary that 
a Military Man should be set over them; and that this not- 
withstanding, he would have Charter-Priviledges Restored and 
Confirmed to them. 

The next day, the King began his Second Royal Voyage for 
Holland; but an Order of Council was drawn up, intimating, 
That it was the King's Pleasure to have a Governour of his 
own Appointing sent to New-England, who should have a 
Negative Voice in all Acts of Government: And, That the 
Massachusets Colony should be settled on the same Founda- 
tion with Barbadoes, etc. Ajid that a Charter should be pre- 
pared accordingly. As soon as I had a Copy of this Order of 
Council, I went with it to four or five of the Lords of His 
Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council: Every one of 
which said. That as it was worded, it did not (in their Opinion) 
agree with the King's Expressions or Intentions. Moreover, 
I caused a Copy of this Order to be transmitted to my Lord 
Sidney,^ one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, 
then with the King in Flanders; praying, That if that Order, 
Signed by one of the Clerks of the Council, was not according 
to the King's Mind, His Majesty would graciously please to 
signifie his Dis-approbation thereof : But no such Signification 
ever came. 

The Attorney-General, in the mean time, prepared a 
Draught of a Charter, according to what he took to be the 
King's Mind, as expressed when his Majesty was last in Coun- 

1 Henry, Viscount Sydney, afterward Earl of Romney. 



1691] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT 283 

cil. In that Draught, the Free-men (and not all Free-holders) 
had Power to Chuse the Deputy-Governour and the other 
General Officers : And the King's Governour had not a Nega- 
tive Voice allowed him in any Case. 

This Draught was presented at the Council-Board on the 
Eighth Day of June last; ^ when it was by some objected, That 
by such a Charter as this, the King's Governour would be 
made a Governor of Clouts; and Order was given to prepare 
new Minutes, or Heads, for another Draught : Which indeed 
made the Charter designed to be no Charter of Incorporation, 
and did deprive the Massachusets of some Essential Privi- 
ledges in their former Charter. When those Minutes were 
agreed on by the Lords, the Secretary of the Committee gave 
me a Copy of them; with an Order from their Lordships, That 
if the Agents of the Massachusets Colony were not satisfied 
therewith, they should bring in their Objections to Mr. Attor- 
ney-General. I shewed the Order to the other Agents. Sir 
Henry Ashurst went with me to the Attorney-General. I ex- 
pressed my Dissatisfaction, perhaps, with a greater Pathos 
than I should have done, earnestly protesting, that I would 
sooner part with my Life, than Consent to the Minutes, or 
any thing else that did infringe any Liberty or Priviledge of 
Right belonging to my Countrey. The like I said to some 
Ministers of State: Who replied, That our Consent was not 
expected nor desired: For they did not think the Agents of 
New-England were Plenipotentiaries from another Sovereign 
State; but that if we declared we would not submit to the 
King's Pleasure, his Majesty was resolved to settle the Coun- 
trey, and we must take what would follow. 

I drew up some Reasons^ against the Minutes proposed; 
Sir Henry Ashurst joyned with me therein; we argued, That 
the King had graciously promised a Restoration of Charter- 
Priviledges to New-England; and that Charter-Priviledges 

1 No entry of this important meeting, the turning-point in the controversy 
between Mather and the Privy Council, appears in the Privy Council Register. 
Such a draught was, however, presented on June 8, 1691, to the Lords of Trade, 
and as this body was a committee of the Council {Cal. St. P. Col., 1689-1692, § 17), 
it is probable that Mather has used the term "Council Board" to mean the Lords 
of Trade and not the Privy Council properly so called. 

2 These "Reasons" are probably the same as the "Proposals" given in 
Cal. St. P. Col., 1689-1692, § 1574. 



284 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

might with as much and more reason be with-held from any 
or all the Corporations in England which were never legally 
Restored, as from New-England; with several other Argu- 
ments too large to be here inserted. These Reasons we de- 
livered in Writing to the King's Attorney-General, who pre- 
sented them to the Lords at the Council-Board. I likewise 
caused a Copy of them to be sent over to the King in Flanders. 
Moreover, some Great Ones at Court wrote to several of the 
Ministers of State who were with the King, entreating them 
to use their Interest with his Majesty, that nothing might be 
Imposed on New-England, which would be grievous to his 
good Subjects there. 

Some were apt to think, that if the King were in England, 
we might prevail with his Majesty to signifie his Disallowance 
of those Minutes which were so grievous to us; and that there- 
fore it might not be amiss to write to the King in Flanders, 
praying that a stop might be put to any further Proceedings 
about the Charter, until his Majesty's happy Return to Eng- 
land. I desired a Great Person (whom I knew the Queen 
had an high Esteem of) to pray her Majesty to write to the 
Eling, That he would graciously please to Command that the 
Charter should Pass, as drawn up by the Attorney-General; 
or else that it should be Deferred until his Majesty's com- 
ing. The Queen was so kind as to do this for New-England. 
I now concluded that nothing more would be done for some 
Months. 

By continual Attendance on this arduous Affair, I had 
broken my Natural Rest, and neglected my Necessary Food, 
insomuch that my Health was greatly impaired: Physicians 
advised me to recede into the Countrey, and use Mineral 
Waters for my Recovery. 

Before I had been there long, I had (and was surprized at 
it) notice that the I^g had signified his Approbation of the 
Minutes which we were so much concerned about; and that 
it was his Royal Pleasure that New-England should be forth- 
with settled accordingly. 

Likewise, a very great Man, and a great Friend of New- 
England, desired a Person of Quality to advise me to take up 
with what was proposed; withall adding, that if the King 
were in England, as Matters were now circumstanced, nothing 



1691] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT 285 

more or better could be expected. I immediately returned to 
London. 

His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State assured me, that 
he had received such a Signification of the King's Pleasure as 
has been mentioned; and was pleased to let me see the Letter; 
wherein it was expressly declared, not only that the Eong did 
approve of the Minutes agreed imto by the Lords of the Com- 
mittee, but that he did by no means approve of the Objections 
which the Agents of New-England had made against them. 

We then resolved however to get as much Good and pre- 
vent as much Hurt to the Countrey as possibly might be. A 
Petition^ was Signed by Sir Henry Ashurst and my self, 
praying, That no Property belonging to that Colony, or to 
any therein, might by the New Charter be taken from them, 
nor any Priviledges which they had a Right unto : That the 
Province of Mayn might be Confirmed: Nova Scotia added 
to the Massachusets : And, That New Hampshire might be 
put under that Government. As to what concerns Hamp- 
shire, we were told, the People there desired to be under any 
Government in the World, rather than that of Massachusets. 
Great Opposition was made against what was proposed con- 
cerning the Province of Majm, but at last it was granted ; and 
Nova Scotia, so far as in the Charter is expressed. Just at 
this time, Letters came to my hand from Plymouth Colony, 
giving me the Thanks of the General Court there, for that I 
had prevented their being annexed to New- York, (which was 
by some Persons of Interest designed above a Year ago :) And 
intimating, That the generality of People there desired to have 
a distinct Charter, and be confirmed as a distinct Government 
amongst themselves: But if that could not be obtained, that 
then, for the Lord's sake, I would endeavour that they might 
be united to Boston, rather than to New- York. 

When I understood the Charter was finished,^ and had 
been read before the Lords, I prayed that I might see it, and 

^ This petition was read at a meeting of the Lords of Trade, September 2, 
1691 {Cat. St. P. Col, 1689-1692, § 1724). 

2 The second draught of the charter, now in the Public Record Office, shows 
many erasures, interhneations, and alterations on separate pieces of paper pasted 
over the original text. Hutchinson prints (I. 412, note) a letter from Elisha 
Cooke, asserting that William Blathwayt, a clerk of the Lords of Trade and the 



286 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

carry it to Councel; because there might be some Clauses in 
it which their Lordships might have such Reasons suggested 
to them, as they would think meet to expunge them, or to add 
some Particulars which might be Beneficial to his Majesty's 
Subjects in that Colony, and no ways Prejudicial to the King's 
Interest, nor yet inconsistent with those Minutes which they 
would not suffer to be contradicted. This Request was 
granted, only I must return the Copy within a few days : An 
Eminent Councellor perused it two or three times, and made 
his Remarks on it. 

That Phrase of Corporal Oath was altered, that so no 
Snare might be laid before such as scruple Swearing on the 
Book. A Clause was added, Confirming Grants made by the 
General Court, notwithstanding any defect that might attend 
the Form of Conveyance, that so Mens Titles to their Lands 
might not be invalidated, only for that the Laws which gave 
them their Right had not passed under the Publick Seal in 
the time of the former Government. Some other Alterations 
we prayed for, but we could not obtain them.^ 

The Question now was, Whether we should submit to this 
New Settlement? Or, in hopes of obtaining a Reversion of 
the Judgment against the Old Charter, signifie to the Ministers 
of State, that we had rather have no Charter at all, than such 
an one as was now proposed to acceptance? I knew that in 
the multitude of Councellors there is safety, and did therefore 
advise with many, and with Persons Unprejudiced, and of the 
greatest Wisdom and Ability to judge; with Noblemen, Gentle- 
men, Divines, and Lawyers: They all agreed, that it was not 
only Lawful, but, all Circumstances considered, a Duty to 
submit to what was now offered. Some said. They were very 
weak Men, and unfit to appear as Agents for a Colony, that 
should make any Question of it. Others said. That a peremp- 
tory Refusal would bring not only a greater Inconvenience, 

patron of Randolph, wrote this draught. It is quite possible that he did so, as 
such would be the proper business of a secretary of the board, and Blathwayt, 
as auditor general of the plantation revenues, probably knew more about the 
colonies than any one else in the Privy Council Office; but as there were three 
other clerks, the statement cannot be considered proven. Hutchinson accepts 
it, however, and Professor Channing follows Hutchinson. 

1 These final objections by Mather are given in Cal. St. P. Col., 1689-1692, 
§ 1758. 



1691] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT 287 

but a fatal Ruine on New-England; and then Mankind would 
lay the blame on the Weakness and Wilfulness of the Agents, 
who when they could not have what they would, ought to 
submit to what they could get. The Opinion of the Lawyers 
was. That such a Passive Submission was not a Surrender, 
inasmuch as nothing was done under Hand and Seal: Nor 
could there be a Surrender in this case, since Judgment was 
already Entred and Recorded against the Old Charter: Nor 
were the Agents capable of Surrendring, as not being Plenipo- 
tentiaries; and that their taking up with this did not make 
the People in that Colony, in Law, uncapable of obtaining all 
their Old Priviledges, whenever a favourable Opportunity 
should present it self; for the World knew, that in a present 
parting with any of their ancient Rights, they were forced to 
yield unto Necessity. I remember, an Honest Lawyer, and 
a Well-wisher to New-England, told me. That if we were put 
to our Choice, whether to enjoy our Old Charter (which he 
was well acquainted with) again, just as it was, or to take up 
with this, (all things duely considered,) we were not wise if we 
did not chuse this rather than that. It was considered. That 
a Judgment (right or wrong) not in Court of King's-Bench, but 
in Chancery, standing on Record against the Charter of the 
Massachusets, whereby it was vacated and annihilated, that 
Colony was fallen into the Kings Hands; so that he might put 
them under what Governours, or what Form of Government, 
he should please. Their Agents might beg for a full Restitu- 
tion of all Ancient Priviledges, but they might not either 
Chuse or Refuse as to them should seem best. It was con- 
sidered. That there was no probability of obtaining a Rever- 
sion of the Judgment against the former Charter. We saw it 
was in vain to attempt to bring it out of Chancery into the 
Court of King's Bench. There were thoughts of bringing the 
Matter into the House of Lords by a Writ of Error in Judgment; 
but it was believed that no Cursitor^ would now venture to 
Sign a Writ of Error; and that if he should, the Lords would 
not be forward to concern themselves in this Affair. 

Although the Archbishop of Canturbury^ that now is, and 

1 Clerk in the Court of Chancery. 

2 John Tillotson, archbishop 1691-1694, had taken the place of the non- 
juring Sancroft. 



288 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

many of the present Bishops, are Friends to New-England, (as 
well as to all good Men,) and I have cause to acknowledge the 
personal Respect I have received from many of them: And 
although a great Interest has been made for New-England 
amongst the Temporal Lords; nevertheless, when they should 
understand that the King was desirous to have that Countrey 
put under another Form of Government, which his Royal 
Wisdom judged would be better for them than what they 
formerly enjoyed, the Lords would be very slow in doing any 
thing that they knew would be dissatisfactory to his Majesty. 
And if they should see cause to take the Case of New-England 
into their Consideration, though they would not Justifie the 
manner of Proceedings, yet when they should hear all that was 
to be Objected against the Governour and Company, on the 
Account of their having exceeded the Powers of their Charter 
in several Particulars, and in a very high degree, they would 
certainly judge that they had merited a Condemnation thereof. 
It was also Considered, That the Old Charter was, in more 
respects than one, very defective : For by that, the Government 
in New-England had no more Power than Corporations in 
England have. But those Corporations have not Power in 
Capital Cases. Both the Judges and Eminent Lawyers have 
assured me, that though Power was given to Corporations in 
Criminal, except Capital Cases be particularly expressed, their 
Power does not reach so far : Nor was there any thing in the 
Old Charter concerning an House of Deputies, or Assembly of 
Representatives : Nor had the Governour and Company Power 
to impose Taxes on the Inhabitants : Nor to Erect Courts of 
Admiralty, etc. The King's Attorney-General (who is no 
Enemy to New-England) declared, the two Chief Justices and 
SolHcitor General concurring with him. That supposing the 
Judgment against the Charter of the Massachusets to be Re- 
versed, if the Government should exert such Powers as before 
the Quo Warranto against their Charter they had done, there 
would now be a Writ of Scire facias issued out against them in 
Westminster-Hall, and their Charter-Priviledges would un- 
doubtedly be taken from them. And it was Considered, That 
if the Judgment against the Old Charter had been Reversed by 
Act of Parliament, the Massachusets Colony would, for all 
that, have been in a far more miserable Condition than by the 



1691] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT 289 

present Settlement they are reduced unto : For then the Prov- 
ince of Mayn, as to Government, would have been taken from 
them, since Government is a Trust that cannot be sold; and 
Hampshire (which would have been made to extend as far as 
Salem,) and Plymouth, would have been put under a Gover- 
nour sent from England; which Governour would have had 
the Command over the Militia, and the Power of Admiralty, 
etc., in the Massachusets Colony: So that, in fine, Boston 
would have been deprived of Trade, and the whole Colony 
made very insignificant: And if they had exerted Powers 
necessary for the Supportation of their Government, perpetual 
Complaints would have been made against them. It was 
moreover Considered, That if the Agents of that Colony had 
signified to the Ministers of State, that they had rather have 
no Charter at all, than this which the King was pleased to 
grant to them, the Consequence would have been, that they 
should have had a Governour wholly a Stranger to New- 
England, and a Deputy-Governour not acceptable to the Peo- 
ple there; and many of his Councellors Strangers, and others 
of them such as were Andross's Creatures; and that this Gov- 
ernour should have had the same Power which the Govemours 
in other Plantations have, to Appoint the General Officers. 
They are very weak Men that doubt of this; and if they will 
look no further than their Neighbours at New York and Vir- 
ginia, they may see Demonstrations before their Eyes sufficient 
to convince them. It was likewise Considered, That some Per- 
sons in London were endeavouring to get a Pattent for all 
Mines, Minerals, Gums, etc., in New-England: Which Design 
was, of late, likely to have taken effect, only the New Charter 
has most happily prevented that which would have been of 
pernicious Consequence to all that Territory. It was further 
Considered, That by this New Charter great Priviledges are 
granted to the People in New-England, and, in some Par- 
ticulars, greater than they formerly enjoyed : For all English 
Liberties are restored to them: No Persons shall have a 
Penny of their Estates taken from them; nor any Laws im- 
posed on them, without their own Consent by Representatives 
chosen by themselves. Religion is secured; for Liberty is 
granted to all Men to Worship God after that manner which 
in their Consciences they shall be perswaded is the most 



290 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

Scriptural way. The General Court may by Laws Encourage 
and Protect that Religion which is the general Profession of 
the Inhabitants there. They may still have Judges, as at the 
first; and Councellors, as at the beginning, if the fault be not 
their own. As long as their Principal Magistrates, Judges, 
Justices of the Peace, are such as will encourage Vertue and 
Piety, and punish Vice, Religion will flourish : And if they have 
not such, the fault will not be in the New-Charter, but in them- 
selves; since no bad Councellor, Judge, or Justice of the Peace, 
can now be imposed on them. These things are as a Wall of 
Defence about the Lord's Vineyard in that part of the World. 
The General Court (now that the Massachusets Colony is 
made a Province) hath, with the King's Approbation, as much 
Power in New-England as the King and Parliament have in 
England; which is more than could be said in the time of the 
former Government there, which had only the Power of a 
Corporation. The General Court has now Power to impose 
Taxes upon all the Inhabitants; and to make Laws which 
shall Incorporate Towns, or Schools of Learning, etc., which 
by the First Charter they had not Power to do. That Coimtrey 
may now expect Protection and Assistance from England, as 
the Matter shall require, more than formerly. And although 
there are some things in this New Charter which are not de- 
sirable, yet nothing that is intolerable. Take it with all its 
Faults, and it is not so bad, but that when I left New-England, 
the Inhabitants of that Territory would gladly have parted 
with many a Thousand Pound to have obtained one so good. 
The great fear is, that though at present there be a good Gov- 
ernour (appointed by the King,) who wisheth well to New- 
England, yet he will quickly be removed, and perhaps an Enemy 
come in his room. But I am morally certain of it, that if they 
hearken to the Advice of their best Friends, no Person not 
agreeable to New-England, in respect of Religion, and the 
Temper of that People, will be set over them, during their 
present Majesties Reign, whom the God of Heaven send long 
to Live and Reign. Yet suppose it should be otherwise : Sup- 
pose a Person as bad as Andross (and the New-Englanders 
think there can hardly be a worse,) should come amongst 
them, What can he do? He cannot without the Consent of 
the Council, Chosen by the Representatives of the People, 



1691] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT 291 

appoint a Sheriff to pack Juries to serve his turn ; nor Judges 
that will act against their Consciences, rather than displease 
him. Nor can he now send Men out of the Conntrey, without 
their own consent. Nor can he and his Creatures make Laws, 
or Leavy Taxes; nor Invade any Man's Property, under pre- 
tence that it is the King's; and that they must come to him 
for Patents, that so they may have a true Title to their Lands 
and Estates. Nor can he, without violating the Magna Charta 
of New-England, disturb any Man for his Religion. The 
King's Governour has a Negative Voice in all Acts of Govern- 
ment; which may be thought a great Infringement of the 
Peoples Liberty; and indeed, makes the Civil Government of 
New-England more Monarchical, and less Democratical, than 
in former Times. Nevertheless, the People have a Negative 
on him. In which respect, New-England is by this Charter 
more priviledged than Ireland, and than any English Planta- 
tion whatsoever, or than they that live in England it self are. 
Appeals to England are allowed of by this New Charter; but 
only in Personal (not in Real or Mixed) Actions, where the 
matter of difference is above Three hundred Pounds Sterling 
in value. So that as to Titles of Land there cannot be any 
Appeal to England, but those Controversies are to have a final 
Determination in Courts of Judicature amongst themselves. 
And Laws Enacted by the General Court are to be transmitted 
to the King for his Royal Approbation: Nevertheless, those 
Laws, when made, are to be in force as soon as made, until 
such time as disallowed of by the King : And if within the space 
of Three Years the King's Disapprobation be not signified, 
those Laws are to be Perpetual, except by the General Court 
they shall be Repealed. By the Old Charter, the Governour 
and Company might not make any Laws contrary to the Laws 
of England: And such reasonable Laws as are not contrary 
thereto will no doubt be Confirmed by his Majesty, if the 
People in New-England be not wanting to themselves as to 
due Endeavours that it may be so. All these things duely con- 
sidered, the Best and Wisest Men in England thought that the 
Persons who were concerned for New-England would do an 
ill Service for their Countrey, if they should peremptorily de- 
cline a Submission to this Settlement, and thereby bring upon 
themselves that which would be more undesirable. 



292 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

I must beg leave (for it is a Truth) to say this further, 
That whereas the People in New-England have not obtained 
all the Charter-Priviledges which they have at several times 
Petitioned Their Majesties for; they have more reason to 
blame themselves, than those of their Agents, who did their 
utmost to procure every thing for them which they prayed 
for. Had they at the time of the Revolution entred upon the 
full Exercise of their Old Charter-Government, and then 
humbly signij&ed to the King that they had so done ; and that 
they were perswaded. His Majesty, who declared, when Prince 
of Orange, That Charters and Ancient Priviledges should be 
restored to the EngUsh Nation in general, would not be offended 
at them on the account of their adhering to what was their 
undoubted Right, wise Men are of Opinion that they might 
have gone on without disturbance, until such time as new 
Complaints should be exhibited against them, on the account 
of doing things which by their Charter they were never im- 
powered to do. But in an Address to the King, they assure 
his Majesty, That they had not entred upon the full Exer- 
cise of their Charter-Government; but that not having re- 
ceived Directions from England, which they humbly waited 
for, they entred upon the Government for the Preservation of 
the Peace, until such time as they should receive an Orderly 
Settlement from England; which they prayed might be accord- 
ing to their Old Charter, that had been unrighteously taken 
from them. 

Now when wise Men in London saw this: "Will you" 
(said they) "who are Agents for the Massachusets Colony, re- 
fuse to submit to a Settlement of your Government from Eng- 
land, when your Principals have signified to the King that 
they will do it ? Who gave you that Power of Refusal ? Has 
the General Court, in an Address to the King, declared, They 
have not entred on the full Exercise of their Charter-Govern- 
ment, but that they wait for the King's Pleasure, as to their 
Settlement; then surely they have not given you private In- 
structions not to Submit ? And if they have not, you cannot 
answer your Refusal to your Principals, nor to the King, nor 
to Mankind. Have not your Magistrates caused a new Clause 
to be added to the usual Oath taken by the Assistants, viz. 
That if contrary Orders arrive from England, that Oath shall 



1691] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT 293 

not oblige them to serve as Assistants until the Year be expired ? 
Shall then their Agents protest against such Orders?" 

Such as these have been the Reasonings of wise Men in 
London. Moreover, the Government in New-England Peti- 
tioned the King to assist them with Frigats, and Supplies of 
Arms and Ammunition; which was, in effect, to pray for a 
Governour. They could not be so weak, to think the King 
would send the one without the other. 

When I wrote to this purpose to a principal Person in 
Government there, the Answer returned to me was, That I, 
and other Persons that were employed as Agents for that 
Colony, ought to look on it as the principal thing committed 
to our Care, and Trust, and that, preferrable to all other things 
whatsoever : To endeavour the obtaining Assistance from their 
Majesties, against the French, and other Enemies; and that 
this was the sence of the generality of the sober People in New- 
England. So that if these two came in Competition, either to 
have the Old Charter just as it was, or to get Assistance from 
England ; we were told we should be Unfaithful to our Trust, 
if we did not preferr the latter to the former. 

Yet further: The Countrey was so impoverished by the 
Wars made upon them, as that they could not send a competent 
Supply to their Agents for the management of their Affair. 

Besides what was sent to me out of New-England, I ex- 
pended upwards of Two Hundred Pounds of my own Personal 
Estate, out of Love to that People. And I did, for their sakes, 
borrow of a Merchant in London above Three Hundred Pounds 
more, which was Two Years before care was taken for the Re- 
payment of it. 

The last Year, some who were hearty Well-wishers to New- 
England wrote thither. That they must consider, their Life, 
their Religion, the Welfare of their Posterity for ever, depended 
on a suitable Supply for their Agents that were concerned in 
Transacting their great Affairs at Court. This notwithstand- 
ing, for more than a Twelvemonth not one Penny was returned : 
So that I was necessitated, either to suffer Ruine to come upon 
the Countrey where I had spent the greatest part of my Life, 
or else must borrow Money again to serve them : Which I did, 
and Engaged all the Estate I have in the World for the Re- 
payment thereof : This is more than ever any man did before 



294 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

me, and perhaps more than any Person so Circumstanced as 
I have bin, will do after me. 

And what was I able to do more? I do humbly affirm. 
That there is not a man in this World, that has done more, nor 
so much, towards the obtaining of a full Restitution of all 
Charter-Priviledges to New-England, as I have done. And 
as to the undesirable Minutes in the New Charter, there is no 
person living that has manifested his dissent therefrom, or 
more opposed, or done more to prevent them, than I have: 
But to reject all the Good therein, because of some things in- 
convenient, is that which I dared not to be guilty of. As Day 
and Night have seen it, so I can, and I do appeal to Heaven 
and Earth, that I have served that People with all Fidelity 
to the very utmost of my Power. 

And now they must give me leave to give them the best 
Advice I can. I shall not need (for they will do it of them- 
selves) to perswade them to send an Address of Humble Thanks 
to their Majesties, for their Royal Favour in Restoring Prop- 
erty, and in Conferring greater Priviledges on New-England, 
than have bin granted to any other English Plantation. And 
for that their Majesties have been graciously pleased to put 
the present Government of New-England into good hands. 
The Person Nominated for Governour (Sir William Phipps)^ 
is one that has ventured his Life to serve his Countrey. When 
Gideon did so, the Children of Israel were desirous that he 
should Rule over them.^ The Deputy-Govemour, Mr. Stough- 
ton, is one whose worth is known in both Englands. One of 
more than ordinary Accomplishments, both as to parts Natural 
and Acquired, and as to Vertue and Integrity. And as for the 
Twenty Eight Assistants, who are appointed to be of the Gov- 
ernours Council, every man of them is a Friend to New- 
England, and to the Churches and Interest of Christ therein. 
To be in the hands of such Rulers is an invaluable Mercy. 

^ Sir William Phips was born in 1650 of humble parentage in what is now 
Woolwich, Maine. He began life as an apprentice to a ship-carpenter, and his 
most famous exploit was the recovery of sunken treasure off the Bahamas, for 
which he was knighted. He became the first governor of the province under the 
new charter. Hutchinson has an excellent characterization of him, I. 396-397, 
note. 

2 Judges viii. 22. 



1691] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT 295 

As for me, whom the Lord Jesus has made use of as an 
Instrument in his Hand, for obtaining this Mercy for New- 
England, I desire no Acknowledgment, nor any Reward in the 
least, for the Difficult and Expensive Service I have for their 
sakes gone through. Let me wait for my Recompense till the 
Resurrection of the Just. But if that People be not thankful 
to God, and to the King and Queen, for what has been done for 
them, not only the King and Queen, but the Majesty of 
Heaven, may justly be incensed against them. To be thank- 
ful for what is given, is the way to receive more from God and 
Men. 

But let me Propose, 

1. That the General Court do, without delay, agree upon 
a Body of Good Laws. They may make such Laws for the 
Settlement of the Militia, and for the securing of Liberty to 
the Subject, as shall be better than their Old Charter. And 
as to what concerns the Upholding of Religion in that Corni- 
trey, there are especially Two things which may be done. 
The one is, By Laws to Encourage an Able and Faithful 
Ministry. The other is. To take care that the Colledge be 
Confirmed in such Hands, as will make it their Concern to 
Promote and Propagate Vertue and Learning. It was in a 
special manner with respect thereunto, that I did undertake a 
Voyage for England above Three Years and an half since. 
As long as that Countrey lay imsettled, as to the Civil Govern- 
ment, I could not do much for the Colledge; only I prevailed 
with a Gentleman of my Acquaintance to bequeath a Legacy 
of Five Hundred Pounds to that Society. And now, in this 
New-Charter, all Donations or Revenues granted to that Acad- 
emy are by the King, under the Great Seal of England, Con- 
firmed. I humbly proposed to some great Ministers of State, 
That a particular Charter might be granted for the Incorpo- 
rating that School for Academical Learning. Answer was 
made. That it should be so, if I desired it : But that a better 
way would be, for the General Court of the Massachusets 
Colony, by a Law, to Incorporate their Colledge; and to make 
it an University, with as ample Priviledges as they should 
think necessary; and then transmit that Act of the General 
Court to England, for the Royal Approbation ; which would un- 
doubtedly be obtained. I look upon this Particular alone, to 



296 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

be well worth my going to England, and there serving half an 
Apprenticeship;^ for that no small Concernment of Religion, 
and the Happiness of future Generations, are comprehended 
in this Matter respecting the Colledge. 

2. I take it to be good Advice, That Judges, Sheriffs, Jus- 
tices of the Peace, should be Established throughout the 
Province, of such as are Men fearing God; and that their 
Commissions continue, Quam diu se bene gesserint.^ 

However it shall be, whether my Counsels be followed or 
not, or whether my sincere Intentions and unwearied Endeav- 
ours to serve New-England find Acceptance with them or no, 
I have this to comfort my self with. That God has been so 
gracious to me, as to make me instrumental in obtaining for 
my Countrey a Magna Charta, whereby Religion and English 
Liberties, with some peculiar Priviledges, Liberties, and all 
Mens Properties, are Confirmed and Secured (Allowance being 
given for the Instability of all Humane Affairs) to Them and 
their Posterity for evermore. 

Inckease Mather. 
London, 
Novemb. 16, 
1691. 

An Extract of a Letter {Written By some of the most Eminent 
Nonconformist Divines in London,) Concerning the New 
Charter Granted to the Colony of Massachusets in New- 
England. 

To the much Honoured General Court Assembled at 
Boston, in New-England. 

Much-Honoured Gentlemen, 

We must give this true Testimony of our much Esteemed and 
Beloved Brother, Mr. Increase Mather, That with inviolate In- 
tegrity, excellent Prudence, and unfainting Diligence, he has man- 
aged the great Business committed to his Trust. As he is instructed 
in the School of Heaven, to minister in the Affairs of the Soul; so 
he is furnisht with a Talent, to transact Affairs of State. His Pro- 

^ 7. e., half of seven years. 

2 During good behavior. All royal appointees held their oflBces at the king's 
pleasure or for life. 



1691] INCREASE MATHER, BRIEF ACCOUNT 297 

ceedlngs have been with that Caution and Circumspection, as is 
correspondent to the weight of his Commission. He with Courage 
and Constancy has pursued the Noble Scope of his Employment; 
and understanding the true Moment of things, has preferred the 
Public Good to the vain Conceits of some, that more might have 
been obtained, if peremptorily insisted on. Considering the open 
Opposition, and secret Arts, that have been used to frustrate the best 
Endeavours for the Interest of New-England, the happy Issue of 
things is superiour to our Expectations. Your present Charter 
secures Liberty and Property, the fairest Flowers of the Civil State. 
And which is incomparably more valuable, it secures the enjoyment 
of the blessed Gospel in its Purity and Freedom. Although there is 
a restraint of your Power in some things that were granted in your 
former Charter; yet there are some ample Priviledges in other things, 
that may be of perpetual Advantage to the Colony. 

We doubt not but your faithful Agent will receive a gracious 
Reward Above; and we hope his successful Service will be welcom'd 
with your entire Approbation, and grateful Acceptance. 
We are, 
London, Your very Humble, 

Octob. 17, And Faithful Servants, 

1691. William Bates, John James, 

Thomas Woodcock, Samuel Annesly, 
Matthew Mead, George Griffith, 
Matthew Barker, Richard Mayo, 
Richard Stretton, Isaac Chauncey, 
Vincent Alsop, John Quick. 

John Howe, 

The End. 



DECLARATION OF PROTESTANT SUBJECTS IN 
MARYLAND, 1689 



INTRODUCTION 

There is no contemporary account in narrative form of the 
revolution of 1689 in Maryland, which overthrew the pro- 
prietary government and placed the control of the colony for 
more than two years in the hands of a group of political mal- 
contents. The Declaration here printed does not contain a 
statement of facts but presents rather a series of reasons and 
motives, drawn up by the leaders of the movement to excuse 
and explain their action. A satisfactory commentary on these 
reasons and motives would call for a history of Maryland from 
1661 Jo 1689. 

During that period of twenty-eight years, coincident with 
the restoration of the Stuarts in England, Charles Calvert, 
son of Cecilius, second Lord Baltimore, and a man of very 
different type from his father, was governor of the colony. 
In 1675, on the death of his father, he became third Lord Bal- 
timore and the proprietary. At three different times during 
these years he was absent from the colony, the government 
being carried on by deputies, of whom the last was William 
Joseph, sent by Baltimore from England to serve as president 
of the council and deputy governor. This absence of the 
proprietary, particularly in 1689, when the uprising took place, 
is a factor of importance, inasmuch as Governor Joseph was 
incompetent to deal vigorously with the revolt. 

After 1661 Maryland as well as Virginia suffered from mal- 
administration in government that aroused among the people 
of the colony feelings of dissatisfaction and discontent. Con- 
trol of affairs was largely in the hands of the family and rela- 

301 



302 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

tives of the proprietary; taxes and fees were heavy for a 
people that were generally poor; a franchise act of 1670 had 
deprived the landless classes of the right to vote; and the falling 
price of tobacco created grave uncertainty and much distress. 
As a rule, the people were ignorant and easily aroused to a 
belief in their grievances and responded readily to outside 
influences, whether from Virginia, only a few miles away across 
the Potomac, or from England, where the conditions antece- 
dent to the revolution of 1688 were certain to find an echo 
among a people already predisposed to suspicion of their 
governors. 

The accession of James II. to the throne of England; the 
birth of a son, and the acclaim that accompanied the news of 
this event in Maryland; the tactlessness and cowardice of 
Governor Joseph, whose rigid adherence to the Stuart doctrines 
of divine right and prerogative was strangely at variance with 
the prevailing sentiment in the colony — all these things gave 
rise to uncontrolled fears of Roman Catholic domination in 
Maryland. These fears were increased when, after the flight 
of James and the accession of William and Mary, the pro- 
prietary governor took no steps to proclaim the new sovereigns; 
and as the rumors of war with France spread, the conviction 
became fixed that those in authority were designing to carry 
Maryland over to the side of France. Reports of an Indian 
war on the frontier of the colony inflamed still further popular 
sentiment until only a leader was needed to convert sentiment 
into action. 

In July, 1689, the news came that "John Coode was raising 
men up Potowmack"; by the 27th the insurgents, numbering 
perhaps two hundred and fifty, had reached St. Mary's, the 
capital of the province, and, without meeting any adequate 
resistance, captured the town and the records. A week later 
Coode and his followers advanced on Mattapany, Lord Balti- 
more's residence while in the colony and at this time occupied 



INTRODUCTION 303 

by Joseph and members of the council, which surrendered in 
order to avoid bloodshed. Thus the malcontents, calling them- 
selves the Protestant Association, obtained control of the gov- 
ernment of the province, which they exercised in one form or 
another for more than two years. From August 1, 1689, until 
the arrival of Lionel Copley, the royal governor, in April, 1692, 
Maryland was in the hands of a revolutionary body represent- 
ing the Protestant interest. 

On July 25, 1689, the leaders of the movement issued a 
"Declaration of the reason and motive for the prest [present] 
appearing in arms of His Majtys Protestant Subjects in the 
Province of Maryland." Like other documents issued under 
similar circumstances, it is a partisan statement, made up of a 
series of charges against the proprietary government, which 
inquiry shows to be either without foundation or true only in 
part. Nevertheless, it is a statement of real historical value, 
for it is a human document, disclosing the thoughts and con- 
victions of those who took part in the uprising ; and it bears an 
intimate likeness to declarations issued elsewhere to defend 
other revolutionary movements of this period. As an exposi- 
tion of actual facts it is of little worth. 

Who wrote the paper we do not know. The original docu- 
ment is signed by eight men, John Coode, Henry Jowles, 
John Campbell, Humphrey Warren, Kenelm Cheseldyne, Wil- 
liam Purling, Nehemiah Blakiston, and Richard Clouds, but 
it is not in the handwriting of any of them. The script is a 
neat kind of court-hand, apparently that of a clerk, and ap- 
pears in a number of these Maryland documents. The original 
Declaration bears two indorsements — due to a second folding 
of the paper — and it is possible that one of these indorsements, 
" Declaration for Ann Arundell Countye," is in Coode's own 
hand. The natural inference is that Coode wrote the paper, 
but this statement cannot be proved, and the text may have 
been a co-operative affair. 



304 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

The other indorsement states that the document was read 
at the board (of the Lords of Trade) November 22, 1690, and 
so it must have lain in the Plantation Office for a year before 
it was formally considered. As the day appointed for the hear- 
ing of the case was not November 22, but December 5, and 
as the copy of the document bears no reference to a reading 
on that day, I am inclined to think that the text presented 
on December 5 was not the signed manuscript but a printed 
copy of it. Some time in August or September, 1689, the 
manuscript version was slightly emended and printed at St. 
Mary's by William Nuthead, a fugitive printer from Virginia, 
who thus issued the earliest known colonial publication with a 
Maryland imprint. The colony had no press of its own until 
1699, when two printing-presses and types were imported. 
The Nuthead print was sent to England and there reprinted in 
November or December of the same year. That this printed 
text was the one read at the meeting of the Lords of Trade 
on December 5 is borne out by the board minute of January 
7, 1691, speaking of "a declaration in print from the inhabi- 
tants there" as presented by Lord Baltimore and read at the 
board (C. 0.391:6). 

The text here reproduced is that of the London imprint, 
which differs in but few particulars from the original docu- 
ment. Some of the differences seem to be nothing more than 
copyist's errors. The original is in the Public Record Office, 
Colonial Office Papers, 5 : 718, and the copy of the pamphlet 
here used is in the Library of Congress. 




THE 



DECLARATION 



O F T H E 

REASONS and MOTIVES 

For the PRESENT 

Appearing in Arms 



O F 



THEIR MAJESTIES 



In the PROVINCE of . { 

1 



MARYLAND 



Liccns'd, November 2%tb i6S^. J. F. 



ALthough the Niture and State ef Affjirs relating to the Go- 
vernment of this Province, is fo well and notorioully Irnown 
to all Perfons any way concerned in the fame, as to the 
People and /nhabitanis here, who arc more immediately In- 
tcrellcd,a$ might cxcufe any 7)ecUra>ia» or Jfohzy for this 
prcfent inevitable Afftarance : Yet forafmuch as ( by the Plotr, Cck- 
trn/Mctt, Jnjinualions, RfmofiflrancfS, and Subkrifttons , earned on, 
fuggeflcd, extorted, and obtained by the Lord Bulttmorr, his Depu- 
A ties 



FIRST PAGE OF THE DECLARATION OF THE TROT 

ESTANT SUBJECTS IN MARYLAND, 1G89 

From an original in the Library of Congress 



DECLARATION OF PROTESTANT SUBJECTS IN 
MARYLAND, 1689 

The Declaration of the Reasons and Motives For the Present 
Appearing in Arms of Their Majesties Protestant Subjects 
In the Province of Maryland. 

Licensed,"- November 2Sth 1689. /. F. 

Although the Nature and State of Affairs relating to the 
Government of this Province is so well and notoriously known 
to all Persons any way concerned in the same, as to the People 
and Inhabitants here, who are more immediately Interested, 
as might excuse any Declaration or Apology for this present 
inevitable Appearance : Yet forasmuch as (by the Plots, Con- 
trivances, Insinuations, Remonstrances, and Subscriptions, 
carried on, suggested, extorted, and obtained by the Lord Bal- 
temore, his Deputies, Representatives, and Officers here) the 
Injustice and Tyranny under which we groan is palliated, and 
most if not all the Particulars of our Grievances shrouded from 
the Eye of Observation and the Hand of Redress, We thought 
fit for general Satisfaction, and particularly to undeceive those 
that may have a sinister Account of our Proceedings, to Pub- 
lish this Declaration of the Reason and Motives inducing us 
thereunto. 

His Lordship's Right and Title to the Government is by 
Virtue of a Charter to his Father Cecilius, from King Charles 
the First, of Blessed Memory. How his present Lordship has 
managed the Powers and Authorities given and granted in the 
same, We could Mourn and Lament only in silence, would our 
Duty to God, our Allegeance to his Vicegerent, and the Care 
and Welfare of our Selves and Posterity, permit us. 

In the First Place, In the said Charter, is a Reservation of 

* In 1685 the licensing act of 1662, which had expired in 1679, was renewed 
for seven years (1 Jac. II., c. 17, § 15). 

305 



306 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

the Faith and Allegeance due to the Crown of England ^ (the 
Province and Inhabitants being immediately subject there- 
unto) but how little that is manifested, is too obvious to all 
unbiassed Persons that ever had any thing to do here; The 
very name and owning of that Soveraign Power is sometimes 
Crime enough to incur the Frowns of our Superiors, and to 
render our Persons obnoxious and suspected to be 111 Affected 
to the Government. 

The 111 Usage and Affronts to the King's Officers belonging 
to the Customs here, were a sufficient Argument of this; We 
need but instance the Business of Mr. Badcock and Mr. 
Rousby, of whom the former was forcibly detained by his 
Lordship from going home to make his just Complaints in 
England, upon which he was soon taken Sick, and 'twas more 
than probably conjectured that the Conceit of his Confinement 
was the chief Cause of his Death, which soon after happened. 
The other was Barbarously Murthered upon the Execution of 
his Office, by one that was an Irish Papist and our Chief 
Governor.^ 

Allegeance here, by these Persons under whom We Suffer, 
is little talk'd of, other then what they would have done and 
sworn to his Lordship, the Lord Proprietary; for it was very 
lately owned by the President himself, openly enough in the 
Upper House of Assembly, That Fidelity to his Lordship was 
Allegeance, and that the denial of the one was the same thing 
with refusal or denial of the other. In that very Oath of 
Fidelity that was then imposed under the Penalty and Threats 
of Banishment, there is not so much as the least word or 
intimation of any Duty, Faith, or Allegeance to be reserved 
to Our Soveraign Lord the King of England.^ 

1 "And we do . . . make, create, and constitute him, the now baron of 
Baltimore, and his heirs, the true and absolute lords and proprietaries of the 
region aforesaid . . . saving always the faith and allegiance and sovereign 
dominion due to us, our heirs and successors." From the translation of the 
charter of 1632. 

2 Lord Baltimore's quarrel with Badcock and Rousby, the collectors of cus- 
toms, in 1682, had brought upon the proprietary the censure of the Lords of 
Trade. The statement in the text is not exaggerated. The murderer of Rousby 
in 1684 was George Talbot, Baltimore's cousin and the "Irish papist" referred 
to, who as president of the council might be called "our Chief Governor." 

' In 1684 the proprietary insisted that the members of the assembly take 
a new oath of fidelity to himself. Four years later Governor Joseph, in a curious 



1689] DECLARATION OF MARYLAND PROTESTANTS 307 

How the Jus Regale is improved here, and made the Pre- 
rogative of his Lordship, is too sensibly felt by us all in that 
absolute Authority exercised over us, and by the greatest part 
of the Inhabitants in the Seizure of their persons. Forfeiture 
and Loss of their Goods, Chattels, Freeholds and Inheritances.^ 

In the next place. Churches and Chappels (which by the 
said Charter should be Built and Consecrated according to the 
Ecclesiastical Laws of the Kingdom of England) to our great 
Regret and Discouragement of our Religion are erected and 
converted to the use of Popish Idolatry and Superstition. 
Jesuits and Seminary Priests are the only Incumbents (for 
which there is a Supply provided by sending our Popish Youth 
to be Educated at St. Omers) as also the chief Advisers and 
Councellors in Affairs of Government, and the Richest and 
most Fertile Land set apart for their Use and Maintenance;^ 
while other Lands that are piously intended, and given for the 
Maintenance of the Protestant Ministry, become Escheat, 
and are taken as Forfeit, the Ministers themselves discouraged, 
and no care taken for their Subsistance. 

The Power to Enact Laws is another branch of his Lord- 
ship's Authority; but how well that has been Executed and 
Circumstanced is too notorious. His present Lordship upon 
the Death of his Father, in order thereunto, sent out Writs 
for Four (as was ever the usuage) for each County to serve as 
Representatives of the People; but when Elected, there were 
Two only of each Respective Four pick'd out and summoned 
to that Convention,^ Whereby many Laws were made, and 
the greatest Levy yet known, laid upon the Inhabitants. 

sermon-like speech to the assembly that met in November, 1688, repeated the 
demand which he emphasized in a second speech made to the two houses in con- 
ference. "Refusing allegiance," said Joseph, "implyes rebellion." The refer- 
ence in the text is to the second speech. 

1 This paragraph means that the proprietary had assumed to himself powers 
that were the prerogative of the king only. 

2 There is no evidence to show that the proprietary or his government ever 
discriminated in favor of Roman Catholicism. St. Omer is a town in northern 
France where was then and is now a seminary for the education of Roman Catholic 
priests. 

3 In 1678 a law was passed providing for four delegates from each county, 
but the proprietary refused his consent, and in 1681 issued a proclamation re- 
ducing the number to two. The struggle continued for two years and ended in 
the victory of the proprietary. 



308 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

The next Session, the House was filled up with the remain- 
ing Two that was left out of the former, in which there were 
many and the best of our Laws Enacted, to the great Benefit 
and Satisfaction of the People. But his Lordship soon after 
Dissolved and Declared the best of those Laws, such as he 
thought fit, null and void by Proclamation; notwithstanding 
they were Assented to in his Lordship's Name by the Gover- 
nor, in his absence, and he himself sometime Personally Acted 
and Governed by the same ; so that the Question in our Courts 
of Judicature, in any point that relates to many of our Laws, 
is not so much the relation it has to the said Laws, but whether 
the Laws themselves be agreeable to the Approbation and 
Pleasure of his Lordship ? Whereby our Liberty and Property 
is become uncertain, and under the Arbitrary Disposition of 
the Judges and Commissioners of our Courts of Justice. 

The said Assembly being sometime after Dissolved by 
Proclamation, another was Elected and met, consisting only 
of Two Members for each County, directly opposite to an 
Act of Assembly for Four, in which several Laws, with his 
Lordship's Personal Assent, were Enacted : Among the which, 
one for the Encouragement of Trade and Erecting of Towns. ^ 
But the Execution of that Act was soon after, by Proclamation 
from his Lordship out of England, suspended the last Year, 
and all Officers Military and Civil severely prohibited executing 
or infhcting the Penalties of the same. Notwithstanding 
which suspension, being in effect a dissolution and abrogating 
the whole Act, the Income of Three Pence to the Government 
by the said Act, payable for every Hogshead of Tobacco Ex- 
ported, is carefully Exacted and Collected. 

How Fatal, and of what Pernicious Consequence, that Un- 
limited and Arbitrary pretended Authority may be to the In- 
habitants, is too apparent, but by considering, That by the 
same Reason, all the rest of our Laws, whereby our Liberty 
and Property subsists, are subject to the same Arbitrary Dis- 
position, and if timely Remedy be not had, must stand or fall 
according to his Lordship's Good Will and Pleasure. 

^ The question of towns had its origin with the Lords of Trade, who desired 
definite ports for entry and clearance and collection of customs in all the colonies. 
The dispute between Baltimore and the assembly concerned the controverted 
point as to who should determine the location of these towns. 



1689] DECLARATION OF MARYLAND PROTESTANTS 309 

Nor is this Nullifying and Suspending Power the only- 
Grievance that doth perplex and burthen us, in relation to 
Laws; but these Laws that are of a certain and unquestioned 
acceptation are executed and countenanced, as they are more 
or less agreeable to the good liking of our Governours in par- 
ticular; One very good Law provides. That Orphan Children 
should be disposed of to Persons of the same Religion with 
that of their deceased Parents. In direct opposition to which, 
several Children of Protestants have been committed to the 
Tutelage of Papists, and brought up in the Romish Supersti- 
tion. We could instance in a Young Woman, that has been 
lately forced, by Order of Council, from her Husband, com- 
mitted to the Custody of a Papist and brought up in his Re- 
ligion. 'Tis endless to enumerate the particulars of this nature, 
while on the contrary those Laws that enhance the Grandeur 
and Income of his said Lordship are severely Imposed and 
Executed; especially one that against all Sense, Equity, 
Reason, and Law Punishes all Speeches, Practices, and At- 
tempts relating to his Lordship and Government,^ that shall 
be thought Mutinous and Seditious by the Judges of the Pro- 
vincial Court, with either Whipping, Branding, Boreing through 
the Tongue, Fine, Imprisonment, Banishment, or Death; all 
or either of the said Punishments, at the Discretion of the said 
Judges; who have given a very recent and remarkable Proof 
of their Authority in each particular Punishment aforesaid, 
upon several of the good People of this Province, while the 
rest are in the same danger to have their Words and Actions 
liable to the Constructions and Punishment of the said Judges, 
and their Lives and Fortunes to the Mercy of their Arbitraiy 
Fancies, Opinions, and Sentences. 

To these Grievances are added. 

Excessive Officers Fees, and that too under Execution, 
directly against the Law made and provided to redress the 
same ; wherein there is no probability of a Legal Remedy, the 
Officers themselves that are Parties and culpable being Judges. 

1 Coode himself had been tried for seditious speaking and blasphemy, and 
probably others of the signers of the declaration had cause to speak feelingly on 
this point. 



310 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

The like Excessive Fees imposed upon and extorted from 
Masters and Owners of Vessels Trading into this Province, 
without any Law to Justifie the same, and directly against the 
plain Words of the Charter, that say, there shall be no Imposi- 
tion or Assessment without the Consent of the Freemen in the 
Assembly: To the great Obstruction of Trade, and Prejudice 
of the Inhabitants. 

The like excessive Fees Imposed upon and extorted from 
the Owners of Vessels that are Built here, or do really belong 
to the Inhabitants; contrary to an Act of Assembly, made 
and provided for the same : Wherein, Moderate and Reason- 
able Fees are assertained, for the Promoting and Encourage- 
ment of Shipping and Navigation amongst our selves. 

The frequent Pressing of Men, Horses, Boats, Provisions, 
and other Necessaries, in time of Peace ; and often to gratifie 
private Designs and Occasions, to the great Burthen and Re- 
gret of the Inhabitants, contrary to Law and several Acts 
of Assembly in that Case made and provided. 

The Seizing and Apprehending of Protestants in their 
Houses, with Armed Force consisting of Papists, and that in 
time of Peace; their hurrjdng them away to Prisons without 
Warrant or Cause of Commitment, there kept and Confined 
with Popish Guards, a long time without Trial. 

Not only private but publick Outrages and Murthers com- 
mitted and done by Papists upon Protestants without any 
Redress, but rather connived at and Tollerated by the chief 
in Authority; and indeed it were in vain to desire or expect 
any help or measures from them, being Papists and Guided 
by the Counsels and Instigations of the Jesuits, either in these 
or any other Grievances or Oppression. And yet these are 
the Men that are our Chief Judges, at the Common Law, in 
Chancery, of the Probat of Wills, and the Affairs of Adminis- 
tration, in the Upper House of Assembly, and the Chief Mili- 
tary Officers and Commanders of our Forces; being still the 
same Individual Persons, in all these particular Qualifications 
and Places. 

These and many more, even Infinite Pressures and Calam- 
ities, we have hitherto with Patience lain under and submitted 
too; hoping that the same Hand of Providence, that hath 
sustained us under them, would at length in due time release 



1689] DECLARATION OF MARYLAND PROTESTANTS 311 

us; and now at length, For as much as it has pleased Almighty 
God, by means of the great Prudence and Conduct of the best 
of Princes, Our most gracious King William, to put a Check 
to the great Innundation of Slavery and Popery, that had like 
to overwhelm Their Majesties Protestant Subjects in all their 
Territories and Dominions (of which none have suffered more, 
or are in greater Danger than our selves) we hope[d] and ex- 
pected in our particular Stations and Qualifications, a propor- 
tionable Share of so great a Blessing. But to our great Grief 
and Consternation, upon the first News of the great Overture 
and happy Change in England, we found our selves surrounded 
with Strong and Violent Endeavours from our Governours 
here, being the Lord Baltemore's Deputies and Representatives, 
to defeat us of the same. 

We still find all the means used by these very Persons and 
their Agents, Jesuits, Priests, and lay Papists, that Art or 
Malice can suggest, to divert the Obedience and Loyalty of 
the Inhabitants from Their Most Sacred Majesties, to that 
heighth of Impudence, that solemn Masses and Prayers are 
used (as we have very good Information) in their Chappels and 
Oratories, for the prosperous Success of the Popish Forces in 
Ireland, and the French Designs against England, whereby 
they would involve us in the same Crime of Disloyalty with 
themselves, and render us Obnoxious to the Insupportable Dis- 
pleasure of Their Majesties.^ 

We every where hear, not only Publick Protestation against 
Their Majesties Right and Possession of the Crown of England, 
but their most Illustrious Persons villified and aspers'd with 
the worst and most Traiterous Expressions of Obloquy and 
Detraction. 

We are every day threatned with the Loss of our Lives, 
Liberties, and Estates, of which we have great Reason to think 
our selves in Imminent Danger, by the Practices and Machina- 
tions that are on foot to betray us to the French, Northern, and 
other Indians, of which some have been dealt withal, and others 
Invited to Assist in our Destruction; well remembring the 
Licursion and Inrode of the said Northern Indians, in the 
Year 1681, who were conducted into the Heart of the Province 

^ The charge embodied in this paragraph was common to all the insurrections. 
It is here stated rather more wildly than usual. 



312 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

by French Jesuits, and lay sore upon us, while the Representa- 
tives of the Country, then in the Assembly, were severely 
press'd upon by our Superiors, to yield them an Unlimited 
and Tiranical Power in the Affairs of the Militia. As so great 
a Piece of Villany cannot be the Result but of the worst of 
Principles; so we should with the greatest Difficulties believe 
it to be true, if Undeniable Evidence and Circumstances did 
not convince us. 

Together with the Promises, we have, with all due Thinking 
and Dehberation, considered the Endeavours that are making 
to Disunite us among our selves, to make and Inflame Differ- 
ences in our Neighbour Colony of Virginia, from whose Friend- 
ship, Vicinity, great Loyalty and Sameness of ReHgion, we 
may expect Assistance in our greatest Necessity. 

We have considered, that all the other Branches of Their 
Majesties Dominions in this Part of the World (as well as we 
could be informed) 'have done their Duty in Proclaiming and 
Asserting their undoubted Right in these, and all other Their 
Majesties Territories and Countries. 

But above all, with Due and Mature Deliberation, we have 
reflected upon that vast Gratitude and Duty incumbent like- 
wise upon us. To our Soveraign Lord and Lady, the King and 
Queen's most Excellent Majesties, in which, as it would not 
be safe for us, so it will not suffer us to be Silent, in so great 
and General a Jubile, withal considering and looking upon 
our selves Discharged, Dissolved, and Free from all manner 
of Duty, Obligation, or Fidelity, to the Deputies, Governours, 
or Chief Magistrates here, as such: They having Departed 
from their Allegiance (upon which alone our said Duty and 
Fidelity to them depends) and by their Complices and Agents 
aforesaid endeavoured the Destruction of our Religion, 
Lives, Liberties, and Properties, all which they are bound 
to Protect. 

These are the Reasons, Motives, and Considerations, which 
we do Declare, have induced us to take up Arms, to Preserve, 
Vindicate, and Assert the Sovereign Dominion, and Right, of 
King William and Queen Mary to this Province : To Defend 
the Protestant Religion among us, and to Protect and Shelter 
the Inhabitants from all manner of Violence, Oppression, and 
Destruction, that is Plotted and Designed against them; which 



1689] DECLARATION OF MARYLAND PROTESTANTS 313 

we do Solemnly Declare and Protest, we have no Designs or 
Intentions whatsoever. 

For the more Effectuate Accomplishments of which, We 
will take due Care that a Free and full Assembly be Called, 
and Convened with all Possible Expedition,^ by whom we 
may likewise have our Condition and Circumstances and our 
most DutifuU Addresses represented and rendered to Their 
Majesties: From whose great Wisdom, Justice, and especial 
Care of the Protestant Religion, We may Reasonably and 
Comfortably hope to be Delivered from our present Calami- 
ties, and for the Future be secured under a Just and Legal 
Administration, from being evermore subjected to the Yoke 
of Arbitrary Government, Tyrany and Popery. 

In the Conduct of this. We will take Care, and do Promise, 
That no Person now in Arms with us, or that shall come to 
Assist us, shall commit any Outrage, or do any Violence to any 
Person whatsoever, that shall be found Peaceable and Quiet, 
and not oppose us in our said Just and necessary Designs: 
And that there shall be Just and due Satisfaction made for 
Provision, and other Necessaries had and Received from the 
Inhabitants: And the Soldiers punctually and duely Paid, in 
such Ways and Methods as have been formerly accustomed, 
or by Law ought to be. 

And we'^ do, Lastly, Invite and Require all manner of 
Persons whatsoever. Residing or Inhabiting in this Province, 
as they tender their Allegiance, the Protestant Religion, their 
Lives, Fortunes and Families, to Aid and Assist us in this our 
Undertaking. Given under our Hands in Mary Land, the 

1 An assembly was called by Coode for August 22, 1689, and all the counties 
were represented except Ann Arundel. 

2 The signers of the paper were: 1. John Coode, formerly a minister of the 
Anglican Church, but latterly a planter, politician, and agitator by profession. 
He was the nominal head of the movement, but not the real leader; 2. Henry 
Jowles, a colonel of militia and member of the assembly, and probably the ablest 
man in the group; 3. John Campbell, a major of militia; 4. Humphrey War- 
ren, a colonel of militia of Charles County; 5. Kenelm Cheseldyne, speaker 
of the last assembly; 6 and 7. William Purling and Richard Clouds, of whom 
little else is known; 8. Nehemiah Blakiston, collector of customs, a shrewd not 
to say unscrupulous man, with an ambition to be governor. He and Coode had 
married daughters of Thomas Gerrard, while Gerrard Slye, their agent in Eng- 
land, was Coode's stepson. The leaders were Coode, Jowles, Blakiston, and 
Cheseldyne. 



314 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

25th Day of July, in the First Year of Their Majesties Reign, 
Annoque Domini 1689. 

God Save King William and Queen Mary. 

Published by Authority. 

Maryland, Printed by William Nuthead at the City of St. Maries. 
Re-printed in London, and Sold by Randal Taylor near 
Stationers Hall, 1689. 



A MODEST AND IMPARTIAL NARRATIVE, 1690 



INTRODUCTION 

The uprising in New York, though similar in its essential 
causes to the movements elsewhere, exhibited a degree of 
personal animosity that gives to it a peculiar coloring of its 
own. The leading actors on both sides, with the single ex- 
ception of Lieutenant-Governor Nicholson, who early left the 
scene, were native New Yorkers and were not only intimately 
conjoined in the life of the city but were closely related by 
blood or marriage. Although in Virginia and Maryland, and 
to a degree in Massachusetts, the revolution took the form of 
a civil struggle, yet nowhere did the bitterness of feeling cut 
so deeply into the life of the colony as it did in New York. 
Families, churches, and neighborhoods were divided against 
each other. The line of cleavage was not determined by 
class, race, or religion, though all these factors were at work 
giving shape to the movement. It was given its final direction 
by enmities that were personal among the leaders and, among 
the followers, were bom of fear and suspicion on one side and 
of scorn and contempt on the other. 

The leader of the revolt was Jacob Leisler, a German from 
Frankfort, who had been a resident of the city since 1660. 
He had been successful as a merchant and wine importer and 
had added to his wealth and position by a marriage with El- 
sie Tymans, stepdaughter of Govert Lockermans, niece of 
Annetje Jans, and widow of a prosperous merchant, Pieter 
Van der Veen. By this marriage Leisler had entered the social 
group of the Schuylers, Bayards, Van Cortlandts, and Philipses 
and had also become involved in a quarrel over property that 

317 



318 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

had created bad blood between himself and the Bayards. 
He was a man of religious standing, for he became an elder 
in the Dutch Church in 1670, and he was appointed a captain 
in the militia in 1684, though he held no important political 
offices. There is nothing in his career up to the time of the 
revolt to stamp him as a dangerous member of the community. 
He was uneducated and coarse, hot-tempered and violent, and 
without self-restraint. Those who praise him would call him 
"a man of the people," others, a plebeian with all the charac- 
teristics usually associated with that term. 

It has been customary in the past to speak of Leisler as the 
leader of the mob or the rabble. This designation has been 
largely due to an uncritical dependence upon the assertions of 
his enemies, such as are here contained in the first two narra- 
tives printed. Certainly among those who accepted Leisler's 
leadership were a number of unsavory characters, restless and 
ignorant men, such as the lawless Milbome and the bluster- 
ing Joost StoU. But on the other hand we cannot class with 
the mob such men as Lodwyck, Stuyvesant, De Peyster, 
Edsall, Delanoy, and the others who were members of the 
churches, militia captains, and councillors of the province. 
The thirteen months of Leislerian government was not a time 
of mob rule. Leisler and his associates showed not only vigor 
of action but also considerable capacity for administration. 
Leisler may have usurped his functions as lieutenant-governor 
and commander-in-chief, but in exercising these functions he 
admitted neither lawlessness nor anarchy. He organized a 
government, raised money, made a seal, issued commissions, 
erected courts, and put down riots. As commander-in-chief 
he took up the war against the Indians, fortified the city, ap- 
pointed military officers, and held courts martial. As vice- 
admiral he created a vice-admiralty court and issued letters of 
marque. Many of these things he did badly and with no 
effort at conciliation or compromise, but we have no reason 



INTRODUCTION 319 

for thinking that at this critical time his enemies would have 
done any better. 

The Modest and Impartial Narrative that follows was prob- 
ably written by Leisler's chief enemy, Nicholas Bayard, per- 
haps in co-operation with others in New York. As the reader 
will discern, the narrative is neither modest nor impartial. 
It closes with Bayard's arrest, which took place probably on 
January 20, 1690, though the exact date is imcertain. In 
any case, the note to the reader on page 320 is incorrect in 
placing that event on the 24th, as Bayard sent a petition to 
Leisler on that date stating that he had been confined for two 
days already. We know nothing of the circumstances under 
which the account was written, but that it was composed at 
a time when passions ran high is manifest. The Narrative has 
been reprinted, from a copy in the British Museum, in the 
Documents relative to the Colonial History of New York, III- 
665-684. 



A MODEST AND IMPARTIAL NARRATIVE, 1690 

A Modest and Impartial Narrative Of several Grievances and 
Great Oppressions That the Peaceable and most Considerable 
Inhabitants of Their Majesties Province of New-York in 
America Lye Under, By the Extravagant and Arbitrary 
Proceedings of Jacob Leysler and his Accomplices. 

Printed at New-York,^ and Re-printed at London 1690. 

The Reader is hereby advertised, That the Matters con- 
tained in the following Declaration and Narration, were in- 
tended to have been presented to the Mayor's Court in New- 
York, the 25th of January last past, but that the Fury and 
Rage of this Insolent Man Leysler, was grown to that height, 
that the day before, by his order, several Persons of Note 
were violently seized and divers Houses broken open, so as 
it was not thought safe to proceed in such Method. For which 
reason it's thought well to pubHsh the same, for information 
of all into whose hands it may come, but more especially for 
the benefit of our fellow Inhabitants, who are abused by the 
false Pretentions of this common Violator of our Laws and 
Liberties, as by the following Narrative will plainly appear: 
Wherein the Courteous Peruser is desired to take notice, it 
hath been our great Care to relate nothing but Matters of 
Fact, of which we have substantial Credible Evidences. 

The Narrative, etc. 

Out of the deep sence we have of the good providence of 
Almighty God, in their Majesties happy accession to the Im- 

1 The pamphlet could not have been printed at New York in 1689 or 1690, 
as at this time there was no printing-press in the province. Not until April, 1693, 
did William Bradford, who had been forced to leave Philadelphia, set up his 
press in the city. The printing, if colonial, might have been done at Cambridge 
or Boston. There was a press in Virginia in 1680, but it was apparently removed 
to St. Mary's in 1683, for the printer, William Nuthead, printed there the Dech- 
ration of the Protestant Association (above, p. 304). 

320 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 321 

penal Crown of England, etc., In the first place we, in a most 
Christian manner, with hearts and hands lifted up to Heaven, 
give Glory to Almighty God, for this so happy a Revolution, 
whereof it hath pleased the most High to appear the Prin- 
cipal Author. In the next place, we cannot but declare and 
publish to the world our hearty and thankful resentments of 
the Noble, though hazardous Enterprize of the late Prince of 
Orange, our most dread Soveraign King of England, Scotland, 
France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith etc., the Noble 
Heroe of this Age, for the Protestant Religion, and the preser- 
vation of the Laws and Liberties of the English Nation invio- 
lated, manifesting hereby that as in duty bound, so in point 
of Gratitude, we can do no less than dedicate our Lives and 
fortunes to their Majesties services, with our most serious and 
continued prayers for their Majesties long and happy Reign 
over us, being well satisfied in our own selves, that what our 
native Land so plentifully enjoys under their Reign, to wit, 
the Laws and Liberties of the English Nation, we (though 
inhabiting a remote part of their Dominions) shall share with 
them in the common Propriety. 

In consideration whereof, in all humble and obedient man- 
ner as Dutiful subjects to their Majesties, and well wishers to 
this their Province of New York, we can do no less than in the 
presence of God, and to the world, declare our abhorrence and 
dislike of the unreasonable. Illegal and Arbitrary proceedings 
of some Men inhabiting with us in this their Majestys Prov- 
ince who have usurped Authority over us. 

Against all such proceedings of theirs hereafter faithfully 
and impartially set down and against them, as the Actors 
thereof, we do hereby publickly declare and protest. 

Now to the end that the Reasonableness of this our Prot- 
estation may appear unto all to whose hands it may come, 
we count ourselves obliged to give a brief recital of the case 
of our Late Lieutenant Governour Francis Nicholson,^ for 
the more peaceable quiet and satisfactory governing this their 
Majestys Province. 

To obviate all suspicion of Jealousies that might arise in 

* Francis Nicholson, destined to become one of the best-known of the royal 
governors in America, was at this time twenty-nine years old and holding his 
first colonial office as lieutenant-governor under Andros. 



322 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

ill affected turbulent spirits, our said Lieutenant Governour 
by and with the consent of so many of the Council as here re- 
sided (upon the whispering of the late happy change) did con- 
vene together,^ with the Mayor, Aldermen and Common 
Council men of the City of New York, with all the Commis- 
sion Officers of the Militia of this City and Country ; at which 
convention our said Lieutenant Governour proposed to admit 
of part of the Train-bands of this City and County to take their 
turns of watching and warding within their Majesties Fort 
under their own Officers; And further offered, with the advice 
and consent of his Council, Civil and Military Officers, there 
met and assembled, that the Customs formerly paid by the 
Inhabitants of this Province should still continue, only with 
this alteration, that whereas formerly it was expended and 
laid out in defraying of the charges of the Government, and 
Soldiers in pay in the Garrison, it should thence forward be 
imployed in the fortifying and putting this City in a posture of 
defence against a foreign Enemy, on which the welfare and 
safety of this Province so much depends. 

In pursuance of the same an order issued forth from the 
said convention, signed by the Lieutenant Governour, his 
Council, the Mayor and Aldermen of this City, and most of 
the Commission Officers of the Militia, none shewing so great a 
dislike to it as Jacob Leysler, one of the Captains of the Train 
bands of this City, who at that time had a Ship loaden with 
wines, the customs whereof amounted to upwards of one 
hundred pounds; the payment of this he utterly refused, al- 
ledging. The Collector, being a Papist, was not qualified to 
receive it, denying the then power to be legal; but whether 
for that or his own private interest let the impartial judge.. 

The turbulent mind of this person not being satisfied in 
denying the payment of the usual Customs, though appointed 
for the use aforesaid, he sets himself upon inventing ways how 
he might overturn the Gov't which was then peaceable and 
quiet. The first thing he falls upon was to stir up and animate 
the people of the East end of Long Island^ to advance with 

1 April 27, 1689. Minutes of this session and of subsequent sessions are 
printed in the Collections of the New York Historical Society, 1868, pp. 272-290. 

' Leisler had nothing to do with the uprisings in eastern Long Island, where 
the towns, eager for union with Connecticut, were stirred to action by news 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 323 

sufficient force to take possession of the Fort, lest it should be 
in danger of being delivered up to a Foreign Power; this 
readily took with them whose minds were already heated by 
the example of Boston in clapping up of our Governour Sir 
Edmund Andros, and after some consultations amongst them- 
selves, they put forward in a Hostile manner increasing as 
they came along the Island, until they were so far advanced 
as the Town of Jamaica, being then about eighty in number, 
whence they halted, and sent up three^ of their principal 
leaders to discourse the Lieutenant Governour, who upon 
their coming convened his council, the Mayor and Aldermen 
of this City, and the Commission Officers of the Militia of 
City and County, into which Convention the Persons sent 
were admitted, where after some long debates they seemingly 
went away satisfied, at least so far as that they and the men 
accompanjdng them returned home to their own Townes and 
habitations, without doing the least hurt or damage to any. 

This stratagem failing our Masanello^ Leysler, in a short 
time after a Rumour was spread amongst the quiet Inhabi- 
tants of this City, of a horrible design there was of murdering 
them, their wives and children, as they were worshipping of 
God in the Dutch Church within the Fort, and the Sunday 
prefixed, when this cruel act was to be accomplished ; Captain 
Leysler in the mean time instigating and stirring up the In- 
habitants to self preservation against this imaginary design, 
which so far prevailed with part of the Inhabitants as that the 
Friday before the Sunday markt out by this report for the 
pretended massacre, they rose in a hostile manner; the first 

from Boston. Their Declaration is dated May 3, and on the 10th the eastern 
insurgents reached Jamaica, three weeks before Leisler seized the fort in New 
York. The first Leisler letter to the Long Islanders was that requesting the coun- 
ties to choose delegates for the meeting of June 26 {Huntington Records, IL 32), 
and the first communication designed "to stir up and animate the people of the 
east end of Long Island" was dated as late as September 1. 

1 Captains Matthew Howell of Southampton, John Wheeler of Easthampton, 
and Ebenezer Piatt of Huntington. With them went Captain John Jackson of 
Hempstead. 

8 Masaniello or Tomaso Aniello; see p. 31, note 1. The use of this term 
as applied to Leisler by Bayard and Chidley Brooke in their correspondence 
{N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 661, 757) furnishes a clew to the author or authors of this 
"modest and impartial narrative." 



324 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

who appeared in arms were some under Leyslers Command 
who (as a plot was laid) went to the House of their Captain, 
and threatened to shoot him if he did not head them. This 
no ways surprized the courageous Captain; a substantial 
reason why, himself being the sole contriver of it : Yet whether 
prevailed most, the want of valour, or the apprehensions, if 
he should miscarry in this bold attempt, the Country would 
be destitute of one so fit as himself to command, we leave the 
judicious to determine. 

However it was it seemed not good unto this Champion 
to venture himself, but commits the conduct of his Men unto 
one Stoll,^ famous for nothing, unless his not being worth a 
groat; up marches Stoll with his brisk followers, and to the 
Fort gates they draw near, where they met with a very civil 
Gentleman, one Hendrick Cuyler,^ left^ under Captain Abra- 
ham Depeyster,^ who commanded that part of the Train 
bands, who by turn had the Guard in the Fort that day; this 
Persons civility was such that it's hard to determine whether 
Stoll and his party without were more desirous to enter, than 
he within was ready to open the Gates to them. In fine, 
entrance they had with great acclamations and joy on both 
sides, that so meritorious a design was not prevented 

How far this valiant Lieutenant Cuyler, in this base act 
of his, hath answered the Law of Arms or the trust reposed in 
him, we will not now determine ; but sure we are, the season they 
took for accomplishing this their unmanlike contrivance, doth 

^ Ensign Joost Stoll, a dram-seller, played an aggressive part in the early 
history of the revolt. He was sent to England in August, 1689, and proved an 
ill-chosen ambassador. His pretentious ignorance undoubtedly prejudiced the 
court party at Whitehall against the Leislerian cause. Stoll was afterward (1692) 
indicted for treason, but discharged. 

2 Hendrick Cuyler, lieutenant in De Peyster's company, seems to have been 
a baker. He it was who, in dispute with Nicholson regarding the placing of a 
sentinel at the fort, drew from the lieutenant-governor the unfortunate remark 
that rather than see things going as they were "he would set the town on fire." 
It is significant that neither of the anti-Leislerian accounts here printed makes 
mention of this dispute or contains any reference to Nicholson's remark. The 
incident is mentioned in the third narrative (below, p. 380). 

^ Leftenant, lieutenant. 

* Abraham De Peyster, a prominent native New Yorker, and a "gentleman 
of figure" in the province. As a Leislerite he had a stormy career in the years 
following the revolt. 



1889] A MODEST NARRATIVE 325 

not a little add to their crime, it being of that juncture of time 
when our Lieutenant Governour and conventment (whereof 
we have before made mention) were consulting for the more 
orderly quiet and peaceable Governing this their Majesties 
Province, who at this sudden change were startled, and acted 
what was left in their power, publickly protesting against this 
rude Action, and the Actors thereof. By this time their great 
Champion Leysler being well assured all danger and hazard 
was over, he most couragiously Girds on his Sword, Marches 
stoutly up to the Fort, in order to his cariying the Game he 
had so fairly begun, where he is joyfully received, and a con- 
sultation immediately held, how they should obtain the Keys 
of the Fort, which the Lieutenant Governour had in Custody, 
being in the City Hall, where he was in consultation as is 
already hinted. 

The evening approaching. Captain Lodwick^ and his 
Company advances to the Fort to mount the Guard, as his 
turn was; some time after his being in the Fort, nothing would 
satisfy the Tumultuous Multitude, but that three or four 
files of men must be sent under the Command of William 
Churcliill,^ Sergeant to Captain Lodwick, to fetch the keys 
from the Lieutenant Governour (a fitter person for such a 
Message could not be sent than this Churchill, infamous for 
his mutinous and turbulent spirit). With much Insolence this 
impertinent impudent fellow rushed into the room where the 
Lieutenant Governour was, and demanded the keys; the 
Lieutenant Governour commanded him to call his Captain, 
who was prevailed with to come, hoping thereby to appease 
the people, unto whom the Lieutenant Governour delivered 
the keys, and Captain Lodwick returning to the Fort, the 
expectations of the multitude being answered, after publish- 
ing Ja. Leysler Colonel, all leave the Fort to Captain Lodwick 
and his Company, who stayed their usual time and it was then 
agreed upon amongst the Captains, that each should take his 

1 Charles Lodwyck came to New York in 1684, and resided there as a mer- 
chant for sixteen years. He was an Englishman with a Dutch name, a captain 
in the train-band, and a Leislerite. In 1692 he wrote a description of New York 
that was read before the Royal Society. 

2 William Churcher played the part of marshal for Leisler, making frequent 
arrests at the head of a file of musketeers. He was a bricklayer. 



326 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

turn to reside in the Fort as Chief, till their Majestys pleasure 
should be further known. 

The Lieutenant Governour, his Council and Convention 
aforesaid, taking into their serious considerations, what danger 
the Moneys was in, paid by the Inhabitants of this their 
Majestys Province as well for Customs as Publick Taxes, 
which at that time was secured in the Fort, The said conven- 
tion agreed upon and ordered the Moneys should be removed 
to the House of Frederick Phillips^ one of the Council, a man 
of known credit and the most considerable for Estate in their 
Majesties Province. 

This was concluded on the day our Usurper Leysler, by 
his Instruments, seized the Fort, being the 31st day of May last 
past. But to no purpose was this agreement of the conven- 
tion; for those who had made themselves masters of their 
majesties Fort were resolved to command the Money too, being 
the sum of seven hundred seventy three pounds, which they 
peremptorily denied the removal of, when demanded by the 
Lieutenant Governour, in pursuance of the order aforesaid. 
How they have disposed of this Money, is not our present 
business to enquire; we leave that until the happy arrival of 
a Governour Legally commissionated from the King. 

The Fort being thus in possession of the Captains of this 
City, by turns, all the violence used for severall days was 
that upon the arrival of any Vessel, great or small, a file of 
Musqueteers were sent on board, the Masters and Passengers 
carried to the Fort, and the Letters taken from them, some 
whereof were open'd, and publickly read amongst the People. ^ 
Never the like known in this place, under any former English 
Governor. 

This is too little to satisfy the unsatiable Ambition of this 

* Frederick PhiHpse, we are told, was the son of a Bohemian Hussite refugee 
in Holland. He lived at Bolsward in Friesland as a carpenter's apprentice, and 
went to America during the period of Dutch control in New Amsterdam. He 
became one of the richest men in New York, and in 1698 was spoken of as "one 
of the most ancient inhabitants and greatest trader to Albany." His part during 
the revolt reflects little glory upon either his courage or his public spirit. He and 
his wife figure also in the Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, in this series. 

2 Four such cases are mentioned, John Dishington and Nicholas Gerrets 
from Barbadoes, Philip French and Nicholas De la Plaine from Boston. The 
arrests were generally made by William Churcher. 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 327 

Great usurper, Leysler, who could not content himself with 
the station nature had fitted him for, and placed him in, but 
his soaring, aspiring mind aiming at that which neither his 
birth nor education had ever qualified him for, to wit, to be 
their Majesties Lieutenant Governor of this Province, making 
no matter of conscience how illegally he attained thereunto 
whether by usurpation or otherwise. It being his turn to 
command in chief in their Majesties Fort the third day of 
June past, he caused an Alarum to be beat, that he might 
accomplish his wicked designs, the intent of this hubhub being 
only to ensnare those of the Inhabitants, who till that day 
had kept themselves clear of these actions. 

The Inhabitants imanimously appeared in Arms that day 
to stop the mouths of their Gainsayers, and were headed by 
their Colonel Nicholas Bayard,^ though many of them were 
sensible it was only a sham Alarm, as it afterwards proved. 

They being all drawn up on a plain before the Fort, and 
no appearance of an Enemy, Colonel Bayard gave command 
to that Captain whose turn it was to work on the Fortifications 
of this City, that he and his Company should repair thither; 
and to the other Captains he gave command that they should 
dismiss their men. But this not answering the end of those 
who were made privy to the design of Leysler, they march 
into the Fort, without their Captains, who stayed so long on 
the plain, until they were told. If they went not in, the Com- 
monalty would pull down their Houses and they would be 
in danger of their lives. 

To prevent which, they followed their Companies (instead 
of leading them) into the Fort, where a Paper^ was prepared 

^ Nicholas Bayard, a prominent resident and office-holder since 1664, 
though connected with Leisler by marriage (his brother having married a sister 
of Leisler's wife), was a bitter and persistent opponent, despising Leisler as a 
plebeian. The latter returned the sentiment in full measure, hating Bayard as 
a grandee and causing him to be seized and confined in irons. Later, when the 
Bellomont administration restored the Leisler ites to power, Bayard was charged 
with treason and condemned to death. The sentence was not carried out. He 
is supposed to have been the author of this Narrative. 

^ A "Declaration of the Inhabitants Soudjers belonging under the Severall 
Companies of the Train Band of New York" is printed in O'Callaghan's Doc. 
Hist. N. Y., II. 11, dated May 31, 1689. The reference in the text, however, 
seems to be to another Declaration drawn up June 3 (N. Y. Col. Docs., Ill, 639). 



328 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

to be signed by every one, the contents being, That with their 
lives and fortunes they would defend the Protestant Religion 
and keep the Fort for King WiUiam and Queen Mary, until 
their Majesties further orders. 

This being done, Leysler begins to think himself sure of 
his point. Gabriel Munveil, one of the Captains of the Train 
Bands, well considering the ill effects that such proceedings 
would produce, wisely procures his discharge from the Lieu- 
tenant Govemour and no more appeared amongst them. The 
rest of the Captains continued their command, more, as we 
are ready to believe, to do what in them lay to prevent mis- 
chief, and check the insolence of this proud usurper, whose 
immoderate desire after greatness and dominion over his 
fellow subjects so far infatuated him as that upon all occasions 
(especially if any strangers present) he hath publickly made 
his boasts, how he contrived and laid the whole design as is 
before related. 

The next Invention of Leysler was to animate and stir up 
the People to the choice of Committee men, upon pretence of 
writing a letter to the King in behalf of the Country, and to 
consider the Reparations of the Fort, which was of absolute 
necessity. However legal this Company of Men assembled 
were (who afterwards termed themselves a Committee of 
safety)^ we leave till a fitter time to dispute. But we cannot 
pass by the method of being chosen, which we are sure was 
altogether illegal and disorderly, there being not one third 
part of the Inhabitants of this their Majesties Province that 
condescended thereunto, nor was it ever intended by Leysler 

^ The commission appointing Leisler captain of the fort is dated June 8, 
that appointing him commander-in-chief is dated August 16. Both are signed 
by ten men styling themselves the Committee of Safety. But the abstract of 
proceedings of the "Committee of Safety," which first sat on June 27, when mod- 
erator and clerk were chosen, and dissolved August 15, when the decision was 
reached to send StoU to England, mentions thirteen names, only seven of which 
are the same as those attached to the commissions. Van Cortlandt, writing on 
July 9, speaks of eighteen members from nine towns, but gives the names of only 
two. In one or two instances we meet with the names of men spoken of as 
members of this committee which are not on the lists (e. g., William Cox, N. Y, 
Col. Docs., III. 602). Thus the actual membership of the committee is in 
doubt, but it is clear that Albany, Suffolk, Ulster, nearly all of New Jersey, 
and eastern Long Island were not represented. 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 329 

they should, lest by that means his expectations should be 
frustrated. In fine, a Company of these men Elected by the 
far least number of the Inhabitants, coming together in the 
Fort, two of them indeed with more honesty and a clearer dis- 
cerning than the rest, perceiving that the main drift was to 
set up Leysler and make him Commander in Chief, fairly and 
wisely withdrew themselves, and after the first time appeared 
no more amongst them. 

The fruits of this unsafe Committee, as we have cause 
sufficient to call them, was to make Leysler Captain of the 
Fort, requesting of the other Captains of the City that they 
would yield him their assistance when desired.^ 

Now begins this Usurpers greatness, which he is no ways 
wanting in improving (with the assistance of his Committee 
men) in all the illegal Arbitrary Acts man in so short a time 
could be guilty of. His working brain stands not still with 
Commanding the Fort, nor were his desires fully answered 
thereby; Nothing less than Lording and domineering in all 
Causes (Eclesiastical, Civil and Military) will satisfy this 
Man, who was and is much alike qualified for them all. 

The Laws and Liberties of the English Nation (with which 
we have good cause to judge he is little acquainted) he thinks 
no crime to violate, not regarding the Noble example of the 
late Prince of Orange, our now most renowned Soveraign 
King William, who for the prevention of the violation of our 
Laws and Liberties hath so eminently appeared to the end they 
might be preserved in their due channel. 

This our proud Usurper, finding the sweetness of an ar- 
bitrary Power agreeable with arbitrary mind, deems it a fault 
in any, who objected the Law against his illegal proceedings. 
Upon all such occasions he would angrily answer, "What do 
you talk of Law ? the Sword must now rule." As if that which 
was judged so hainous in our Native Land would be deemed 
meritorious in these parts of their Majesties Dominions. 

Our Neighbouring Colony of Connecticut being full of 
disorders amongst themselves, albeit they had assumed their 
former Government, a General Court of that Colony sitting, 

^ At this juncture Nicholson left the colony. He planned to leave New 
York on June 10, and Leisler made no effort to detain him, as the Massachusetts 
men did Andros. He did not actually sail till the 24th. 



330 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

take upon them to send two persons to discourse those who (by 
usurpation) had taken possession of their Majesties Fort of 
this Province. 

Information being given unto the Mayor, Aldermen and 
Common Council of this City, met and assembled at the 
Mayor's House^ the 22nd June last past, that Major Gold 
and Captain Fitz^ were sent by Connecticut Colony, with 
orders to proclaim their Highnesses, Prince and Princess of 
Orange, King and Queen of England etc.. That Board re- 
quested Alderman WilHam Merrit^ to go to the Fort where 
those two Gentlemen were, and desire the favour of them to 
come to the Mayors House, which he accordingly did and they 
complyed with the request. Being come to the Mayors House 
he signifies to them the information was had of their coming 
to this place with directions to proclaim King William and 
Queen Mary, and desired they would acquaint them what 
orders they had for it, that so they (of this City) might be 
ready to shew their forwardness to act in the same with such 
Honour and Splendor as the occasion required. 

Major Gold and Captain Fitz answ'd. They came upon 
no such account but came to the Persons that had the Fort 
in Custody, to discourse about some particular matters from 
their General Court; and that they did not know before they 
came from home but that the King had been already proclaimed 
here. That when they came to town, going to the Fort, as 
they were sent, they having the Proclamation about them, 
Mr Jacob Leysler desired them to let him have the use of it 
to Proclaim the King and Queen here. 

The Inhabitants being in Arms to this intent, by beat of 
the drum, the Mayor and Aldermen of this City (though not 

* After May 31 the mayor and aldermen met at the house of Stephen Van 
Cortlandt, the mayor. Sessions must have been omitted while Van Cortlandt 
was in Albany (August-September) but were resumed early in October after 
his return. The last meeting was on October 8. On the 14th a Leislerian mayor, 
Peter Delanoy, was installed. He was elected by the citizens of New York, 
acting under instructions from the Committee of Safety. The writer of this 
Narrative (below, p. 337) evidently deems the "election" a farce. 

2 Major Nathan Gold of Fairfield and Captain James Fitch of Norwich. 

' Alderman William Merritt was an old-time skipper and merchant and 
the lessee of the ferry to Long Island. His son, William Merritt; was afterward 
mayor. 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 331 

thought worthy to have any notice of it, till after they were 
proclaimed at the Fort) went to the City Hall to attend the 
Solemnity. Which being performed, Leysler desired the Mayor 
and those with him to go up to the Fort and drink the King 
and Queens health, which they shewed their readiness to do. 
No sooner were they come into the Fort, though by invita- 
tion of Leysler himself, but he tells them, The people were so 
much incensed against them, that it would not be safe for 
them to continue long there, and gave them his friendly ad- 
vice to be gone. An entertainment not unlike the Person 
that gave it. 

Their Majesties being proclaimed in this Province and a 
printed Proclamation coming to the hands of the Mayor and 
Aldermen of this City, That all Justices of the Peace and 
Sheriffs should continue imtil further order except Papists; 
they caused the same publickly to be read, requiring the In- 
habitants to take notice thereof accordingly.^ This madded 
our proud Usurper, being averse to nothing more than a civil 
Government, which he knew must needs curb and be a check 
upon his Insolency. 

Therefore to prevent this he gives his malicious spirit the 
full swing and endeavours afresh to enflame the common peo- 
ple, by branding of those who were in commission of the Peace 
with being Popishly affected, for no other reason than that 
they would not join with him in violating all our Laws and 
Liberties. His envious malicious mind could not have vented 
itself in a more pernicious Falshood than this; for upon due 
Examination it will be found that not one Papist or Popishly 
affected throughout this their Majesties Province were in Com- 
mission of the Peace, and that many whom he hath thus 
wickedly scandaUzed have always been of far greater Reputa- 
tion both in Church and State than himself. 

The maUce of this Mans spirit hath been so general against 
all that would not say as he did, that the Dutch Minis ters^ 
of the Reformed Churches within this Province have not es- 
caped the lash of his inveterate tongue. Nor hath his endeav- 

* This proclamation was issued on the same day, February 19, with that 
ordering the colonies to proclaim their majesties (Brigham, Proclamations, pp. 
146-147). 

2 For the ministers, see below, p. 367, note 1. 



332 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

ours been wanting to create the same disorders and confusion 
in Church as he hath already done in Government. 

How far what is already related evinceth this Usurper 
Leysler to be an Enemy to and infringer of the Laws and 
Liberties of the English Nation, we leave to the Judgment of 
the impartial. Yet lest all that he hath hitherto acted were 
not sufficient to declare his averseness to the Laws and Liber- 
ties of the free born subjects of England, he further proceeds 
to action. And 

On the 25th day of June last past, going into the Custom 
House, where was present Commissioners appointed by the 
Lieutenant Governours, Council, Mayor, Aldermen and Com- 
mon Council of this City, Mr Paulus Richards, Mr John 
Haynes, and Mr Thomas Wenham, Merchants of this City, 
who were authorized by the convention aforesaid to receive 
the usual customs paid by the Inhabitants of this their Majes- 
ties Province, and the same to keep until orders came from 
their Majesties. The reason why this convention took upon 
them to authorize the Gentlemen above mentioned was the 
particular recommendation of the Lieutenant Govemour, con- 
sidering the circumstances of Matthew Plowman,^ Collector, 
and that he was not qualified as their Majesties Proclamation, 
bearing date the 14th February 1688 directeth. 

This violator of our Laws and Liberties going into the 
Custom House as is above hinted, abuses the Gentlemen then 
present with scurrilous Language peremptorily demanding of 
them, By what Authority they sate there? To whom they 
modestly replied. That when he satisfied them what power he 
had to examine them they would return him answer, but in 
the mean time desired him to go out of the Custom House, 
where then he had no business. 

In a little space after, this Usurper comes the second time, 
with his Power, which power which was neither the Laws of 
England nor this Province, nor yet a Legal Commission, but 
a Company of Men with Swords and Guns (according to his 
usual maxim. The Sword must rule and not the Laws) and by 

1 Matthew Plowman was appointed "collector" by James II. in 1687. 
His duties were to collect all the proprietary and royal revenues and differed 
materially from the duties of the regular collectors of customs appointed by the 
Treasury to collect the plantation duty only. 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 333 

force of Arms turns them out of the Custom House. In which 
violent action of this usurper Colonel Bayard narrowly es- 
caped with his Life, who hath wisely ever since absented him- 
self, lest by the instigation of this malicious Man he might be 
murdered unawares. 

The next exploit this violent Leysler falls upon is to fulfil a 
promise he was heard to make in the beginning of our Troubles, 
That in two months time he would do all the English Rogues 
business for them so that two of them should not be seen to 
walk together. In pursuance whereof on the 14th day of 
August he sends severall Armed men, with no other warrant 
than their Swords and Guns, to the House of Mr Thomas 
Clark, ^ a Merchant in this City, who at that time was under 
some indisposition of body, which they no wayes regarded nor 
the intreaty of his Wife (then big with Child) who begged of 
them not to be so rude, his Children being frightened. They 
replyed. They mattered it not, if they were all killed. Ajid 
in a violent manner they carried this Free born subject of 
England and free man to the Fort, where Leysler lays to his 
charge a Paper delivered by him unto the Committee, but 
principally that he should say. The next time the Drum beat 
an Alarm he could raise four hundred men. For no other 
reason is this free born subject of England confined a close 
prisoner in the Fort, without any Warrant of Commitment 
wherein the cause of his confinement ought plainly and espe- 
cially to be set down as the Law directs; neither was there any 
due process of Law against this their Majesties subject, thus 
arbitrarily debarr'd of the liberty of his person. By which 
this Usurper hath made the greatest breach and Inroad upon 
the Laws and Liberties of this English Nation, that was pos- 
sible for him to do, as the Gentlemen learned in the Law, both 
by Study and practice, have sufficiently demonstrated by 
sound and solid arguments, That the violation of Mans 
Person is a crime of a deeper dye and higher nature than that 
of his Estate, for as much as nothing in the world is so near 
and dear to a Man as the liberty of his Person. 

This Villanous Userper Leysler not regarding the great care 
and pains of the Supream Powers of England met and assem- 

1 "Thomas Clark was brought in to answer for a paper reflecting on the 
Committee and was secured." (Committee of Safety minutes, August 14.) 



334 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

bled in Parliament, for these many years past, to preserve the 
Subjects Liberties im violated and to that end, how many ex- 
cellent Acts have passed which are as so many Walls and Bul- 
warks against all Arbitrary Usurpers, who though for a time 
may flourish and meet with applause by their deluded fol- 
lowers, it's not probable can terminate in any thing less than 
utter confusion and Destruction to themselves, and shame and 
Ignomy to their beguiled Abettors only made use of as so 
many tools for the better accomplishing their own wicked ends, 
who then are to be laid aside and new favorites taken in. 

Nothing seems so consentaneous to this abuser of our free- 
dom and Liberties, as the French Kings maxim {Sic Juheo Sic 
volo), who by birth we are ready to believe may claim the 
greatest share in him, or at least by his actions be equally 
scorning, with that proud Tyrant, to give any other reason for 
his Arbitrary Actions than his own unlimited will and pleasure. 

The many abuses particular persons have met withal, by 
having their goods taken from them, without either warrant 
or legal proofs, would be too tedious here to insert. Upon all 
such occasions the Actors being demanded, By what warrant 
they committed this violence ? they would usually answer (clap- 
ping their hands upon their Swords) "Here is our warrant.'* 

The keen edge of this mans malice could not be taken off 
by his cruelty to one of them, whose ruin he had before avowed, 
but he goeth on to fulfill his wicked promise. And 

On the 16th day of August past causeth another Alarm, 
to that end and purpose, as some of his own party were heard 
to say, some days before it happened. That shortly there would 
be an alarm in order to the taking hold and securing some not 
well affected to their Actions, which were such as this violent 
Leysler intended as the subjects of his unbridled envy. And 
accordingly in a violent manner, by force of Arms, these fol- 
lowing persons were dragged to the Fort, to wit, Mr William 
Merrit,^ Mr Jacob Dekey, Mr Brandt Schuyler,^ Mr Philip 
French, and Mr Robert Allison, Merchants and considerable 

* Son of Alderman William Merritt, mentioned above. 

2 Brandt Schuyler was a brother of Peter Schuyler, first mayor of Albany. 
He was doubly related to Stephen Van Cortlandt, as each married the other's 
sister, and all were connected by marriage with Leisler, whose wife, Elsie Tymans, 
was Van Cortlandt's cousin. Brandt Schuyler and Jacob De Key were elders in 
the Dutch Church. 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE " 335 

traders in this City and Province, Mr John Merrit son to Mr 
William Merrit, Mr Edward Buckmaster,^ Mr Derrick Van- 
derburgh,^ who were committed the same night of the Alarm, 
without either warrant or legal Process.^ 

The next day Captain John Tuder,^ meeting with the 
Courageous Lieutenant Cuyler, upon some words between 
them was in like manner dragged to the Fort, as his fellow 
Citizens were the night before. 

Mr Thomas Clark after some days Imprisonment was 
brought to that weak condition, that he was more like to die 
than live, and was carried home in a Sedan, by order of his 
Gaoler Leysler. 

Also Mr John Merrit, after twenty four hours confinement, 
himself being ill, his Wife much indisposed, and his only Son 
lying on its death bed, had his liberty. 

Alderman William Merrit, the Grandfather of this Child, 
greatly desiring to see it before dead made application to his 
cruel Gaoler, Leysler, for leave to visit the Child, offering any 
security he should demand for his return thither, or if he 
pleased to send a guard of his Soldiers with him he would satisfy 
them for their trouble; but nothing could prevail with this 
Barbarous Man, who resolved to keep the said Merrit with the 
others before named during his own will and pleasure close 
prisoners in the Fort, which continued for twenty one days, 
and then were set at liberty, as yet being strangers to their 
crimes that deserved so severe punishment. 

On the twenty fifth of August comes to this place one Mr 
Jacob Milbome^ from England, as he gave out; we are 

* Edward Buckmaster was a tavern-keeper. 

* Derrick Vandenburg was a mason who had been one of those engaged to 
repair the fort before the revolt. 

^ Leisler gives his account of these seizures in his letter to the king (N. Y. 
Col. Docs., III. 615-616) and in the memorial of June 24, 1690 {id., 739, 740-748). 
If the evidence is to be trusted, and it bears the mark of reliability, these men 
were arrested for taking part in a riot, the most considerable of the period, in 
which Leisler was attacked and was apparently in danger of his life. 

* Captain John Tuder was an English attorney in New York. He defended 
Philip French, who had been arrested for destroying, or threatening to destroy, 
proclamations posted by the Committee of Safety. 

* Jacob Milborne, Leisler's son-in-law, was born in London in 1648, the son 
of a London tailor. According to reports, he was early convicted of clipping 
coins and was shipped to Barbadoes. About 1663, he was sold as an indentured 



336 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

obliged to mention his name by reason of the great part he 
acts in our future troubles. This mans affected ambiguous 
way of expressing himself renders him unfit for the conversa- 
tion of any but the vulgar, who in this age are so apt and 
ready to admire and applaud that they understood not. This 
persons decayed fortunes were such that not unlike a Man 
ready to be drowned, letting go a sure hold, catches at a twig, 
so he in like manner relinquisheth his old acquaintance and 
friends, and joins with our Usurpers whom he revives by tell- 
ing them. That in the middle of May last he was in England, 
where all things were settled by the common voice of the 
people in peace, under King William, who was an elective King 
and had submitted his Regal power wholly to the people, so 
that it was now become a maxim, Vox Populi est vox Dei, 
and the King was only a Servant to his Subjects. By this our 
Usurpers were encouraged in their old manner of reasoning, 
when objected against their illegal proceedings. What Law or 
warrant they had to back them in their Actions ? They would 
always reply, "By what Law, warrant, or Commission did the 
Prince of Orange go into England, and act as he hath done? 
And how do you think King William can take that amiss in 
us who have only followed his example?" The very rehears- 
ing of this Disloyal comparison is sufficient to cause an abhor- 
rence and detestation in every Loyal Subject. 

The next fruits of this Milbornes News is, that the Com- 
mittee of Safety, as they termed themselves, take upon them 
to give forth an order to the inhabitants of this their Majesties 
Province, signifying: That whereas several Inhabitants had 
already turned out their old officers, they should proceed in 
election of Civil and Military Officers in the several Counties 
of this Province. Some Counties accordingly did, by the ap- 
pearance of small numbers, turn out the Justices of the peace 

servant to a Hartford man, with whom he remained until 1668, when his term 
having expired he went to New York. There he engaged in various employ- 
ments, on one occasion getting into trouble with Andros, by whom he was im- 
prisoned. He afterward sued Andros in England and recovered £45 damages 
(below, p. 347). He had a brother, William Milborne, a Fifth Monarchy man, 
equally restless with himself, who at one time lived in Bermuda, where he made 
trouble for Governor Cony. Fleeing from the island about 1684, this brother 
went to Boston, where he became a Baptist preacher, "the great ringleader of 
the Rebellion," according to Randolph. 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 337 

and Military Officers, and choose new. A method never 
formerly allowed of under any of our Kings reigns, it being 
always granted to be the undoubted prerogative of the King 
to Commissionate his Justices of the peace and Military Offi- 
cers. However when we are better satisfied that it hath 
been his Majesties gracious will and pleasure to seperate this 
branch of his prerogative and bestow it on the poeple, we shall 
readily show our thankful reception; but till then, we think 
it the duty of all Loyal Subjects not to appear in such elections. 

The 29th day of September being the time appointed for 
the choice of Aldermen and Common Council-men, in a charter 
of Priviliges granted to the city by Colonel Thomas Dungan, 
when Governour of this Province,^ accordingly the Inhabitants 
met in the several wards and chose as usually, no ward being 
attended with so much disorder in their Election as that 
whereunto Captain Leysler belonged; who its evident resolved 
right or wrong to have his Son in Law, Robert Walters, to be 
returned Alderman for that ward. The method he took for 
doing it was thus: coming into the place where the Inhabi- 
tants were assembled in order to their choice, he finding the 
vote was like to be carried against his Son Walters, in the first 
place he objected against Captain Anthony Brockholst's Vote, 
a considerable freeholder of that Ward, his being a Papist; 
and afterwards says, " I vote for my son Walters, my son Jacob 
Votes for his brother Walters, and my son Walters votes for 
himself, that's three, put them down"; By this means was 
his son Walters returned for that Ward. 

The usual day of pubHshing^ the Mayor, Sheriff, Town 
Clerk, Aldermen and Common Council of this City for the 
succeeding year was on the 14th day of October, the birth day 
of the late King James; in the mean time comes forth an order 
from the Committee impowering all the Protestant freeholders 
of this County, on the day of October to elect Mayor, 
Sheriff and Town Clerk, at which election the far greatest 
Number of the Inhabitants not appearing (well knowing that 
by the express words of the Charter, that power was solely 
reserved in the Govemours breast to appoint these three 

^ Governor Dongan's charter of 1683 to New York City. 
* Leisler's proclamation publishing the names of the officials is given in the 
Doc. Hist N. Y., II. 35. 



338 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

Officers) the least Number of the Inhabitants in pursuance of 
the Order aforesaid, met and assembled together, and by 
majority of voices chose one Peter De Lanoy Mayor, Johannes 
Johnson Sheriff, and Abraham Governour, Town Clerk, 
against which persons we object not so much, as the method 
of their being chosen; neither shall we be offended if it shall 
please his Majesty to add unto our former priviledges this 
likewise. The Gentlemen named being thus chosen were 
published on the customary day. 

By this time Mr Milborne recovers of a fit of sickness that 
had hitherto rendered him incapable of acting anything else 
but affording his chamber advice, which upon all occasions 
was consulted by our usurper Leysler; now being restored in 
great measure to his former health, he vigorously joining with 
this usurper and his unsafe committee a notable piece of ser- 
vice is immediately assigned him by them, which was to go 
up to Esopus and Albany in order to the bringing those Coun- 
ties in the same condition and disorders as they had done 
this and the Neighbouring Counties near adjacent. In pur- 
suance hereof, he goes on board a sloop and sails forward to 
Albany with fifty Men, who had listed themselves as Vol- 
unteers to assist that place, if occasion were, against the 
French. Upon his arrival there, by the great care, conduct 
and prudence of Peter Schuyler, Mayor of that City, assisted 
by the Recorder, Aldermen, Common Council and Military 
officers, the designed purposes of this dark politician were 
happily frustrated so that he returns back to this place under 
some Disappointment. 

The eighth day of December arrives yer via Boston one 
Riggs^ with two pacquets from his Majesty, King William, 
whereby we hoped to have had deliverance from the usurpa- 
tion. Slavery and cruelties of Leysler, but our expectations 
were soon at an end. The Superscription of the Pacquets 
begin thus, "To our Trusty and well beloved Francis Nichol- 
son Esquire our Lieutenant Governour of our Province of 
New York in America, or in his absence, to such as for the 
time being take care to keep the peace and Administer the 
Laws of our said Province." ^ 

1 For John Riggs, see below, p. 362. 

* Similar orders, similarly worded, were sent to Massachusetts, July 30, 1689, 
and to Maryland, February 1, 1690. In Massachusetts the order was received 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 339 

This infringer of Laws and Liberties Leysler peremptorily 
assumes the Pacquets to himself; saying, He was the Man to 
whom they were directed in the Lieutenant Governours ab- 
sence. But upon what pretence he deems himself the person, 
except it be for his breach of the peace, and obstructing the 
due course of the Law ever since he hath possessed himself of 
the Fort, Arbitrarily and illegally ruling by the Sword, is 
sufficiently evidenced to the unbyassed Reader by the fore- 
going lines. 

Frederick Phillips and Stephen Van Cortland, both of the 
Council, and left in Trust by the Lieutenant Governour for 
the keeping of the peace and legally Governing of this their 
Majesties Province, which they carefully and honestly would 
have discharged the Trust reposed in them, if they had not 
been prevented by this Violator of our Laws and Liberties and 
that with more renown and Reputation to their Majesties as 
well as the better satisfaction of their Liege People inhabiting 
this their Majesties Province, 

The two Gentlemen of the Council before named, being 
sent for to the Fort, by the request of Mr John Riggs (the 
Pacquets being by him at that time not delivered) they signi- 
fied to Leysler and those present with him. That they were 
ready to observe such Orders as his Majesty had given in his 
Pacquets to his Lieutenant Governour, then absent, from whom 
they, together with Colonel Bayard, had instructions to keep 
the peace and administer the Law of this Government, which 
they always were ready to have fulfilled, if had not been ob- 
structed. 

At this our Usurper rages, and vents his passion in his 
usual Billingsgate Rhetorick, calling them popishly affected, 
Dogs and Rogues, and bids them immediately go out of the 
fort, for they had no business there. A strange entertain- 

and acted on by the revived charter government. In the case of Maryland, the 
packet was intrusted to Nicholson, who was going to Virginia as governor, and 
he in doubt wrote to Maryland asking to whom he should deliver it. He finally 
sent it to the General Convention, chosen April, 1690, and its receipt was ac- 
knowledged by the Grand Committee, appointed by the Convention, consisting 
of Jowles, Blakiston, and twelve others. In New York, Bayard and Van Cort- 
landt had no legal claim to the order, as they were but councillors of a defunct 
government, the Dominion of New England, and at best could act only with a 
quorum of five present. As New York had no legal government, Leisler was 
probably doing as much as any one to preserve the peace. 



340 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

ment to them, who for these many years past have always as 
Councillors Officiated under the several Govemours of this 
their Majesties Province, and at that time those who were 
left in trust by their Majesties Lieutenant Governour. How- 
ever seeing there was no remedy but patience (this violent 
usurper resolved still to Govern by the sword) they quietly 
went to their own homes. 

Their Majesties Pacquets being thus assumed by our 
Usurper, he immediately abuseth his deceived Abettors by 
affirming to them, He had received a Commission to be their 
Majesties Lieutenant Governour, and that all their Actions 
were well approved of. This readily gained credence with the 
vulgar, who are too apt and willing to be beguiled by their 
Popular leader. From this time forward he assumes the title 
of Lieutenant Governour, and according to the Instructions 
given in the Pacquet, he swears some, who were of his Com- 
mittee of Safety before, to be Councillors now, as also some 
few more of the Inhabitants, much alike unto these Persons, 
neither of the highest rank nor reputation, but such as our 
Usurper was well assured were for his turn. This being done 
they proceed to action. 

N B. On the 16th day of December an order comes forth 
Entituled, "By the Lieutenant Governour and his Council,"^ 
signed underneath, Jacob Leysler. 

The contents as followeth:'' 

By the Lieutenant Governour etc. and Council. 

Whereas there is an Act of Assembly dated One Thousand Six 
hundred eighty three, Entituled, a continued Bill for defraying of 
requisite charges of the Government, and many of the Inhabitants 
of this Province notwithstanding they have subscribed to comply 
with the same, have disputed it when required thereunto, 

^ The councillors were eight in number, Delanoy, Staats, Jansen, Vermilye, 
Beekman, Edsall, Williams, and Lawrence — French, English, and Dutch. Each 
was a man of substantial merits, and occupies a prominent place in the family 
history of the province. The council was named on December 11, 1689, and kept 
a record of its meetings, but the book is lost. 

2 This extract and the extracts that follow are from the Charter of Fran- 
chises and Liberties for the colony passed by the abortive assembly that met 
under Dongan, October 17, 1683. As the charter was disallowed by James II., 
it had no binding force on the colony. 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 341 

These are therefore to give Notice unto all persons, within this 
Province, that the Customs and excise settled by the said Act, hath 
and doth still remain good and of full force, and that the Collectors 
and Receivers thereof are empowered to do their duty therein; all 
persons being hereby strictly required to obey the same as they will 
answer the contrary at their peril. Given under my hand at Fort 
William the Sixteenth day of December 1689. 

Jacob Leysler. 

This order of the pretended Lieutenant Governour and 
Council, being set up in all the public places of this City, did 
not a little alarm the considerate Inhabitants, who thereby 
clearly saw the willingness of this Usurper and his abbettors to 
enslave them and their posterity, so that he might command 
their purses. A strange change in a little time! For this 
Leysler, in the beginning of our troubles, was the first man 
that disputed the payment of the Customs, consulting with 
several of the Inhabitants, how these Arbitrary Impositions 
might be pulled down. Further, how contrary this order of 
our Usurper and abbettors, is to their own so often repeated 
maxim (That whatsoever was acted by a Papist Governour, 
or under his authority, was ipso facto null and void and of no 
effect in Law.) If there yet remain any candour or Ingenuity 
in this violent man and his abettors, it will be more honour- 
able for them publickly to recant so plain an error, than still 
to persist in it, for we pray of the unbyassed Reader, what 
else is the intent, purport and meaning of this Order, but to 
enforce a Law made by a Papist Governour and under his 
authority, which by their own argument is void in itself, so 
that they must either own this their dark unintelligible Oracle 
hath much deceived them in this point of Politicks, or its evi- 
dent to the World they have assumed upon themselves a 
Power to levy Taxes, Customs and benevolences upon the In- 
habitants of this their Majesties Province, without and con- 
trary to their own consent, notwithstanding the many whol- 
some Laws that have passed under the several Kings Reigns 
in the Realm of England, made for the preservation of the 
same; as also contrary to a particular branch of that Act 
which their order hath reference unto, that in express words 
says thus, That no aid. Tax, Tollage, Assesment, Custom, 
Loan, Benevolence or imposition whatsoever shall be laid, 



342 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1683 

assessed, imposed or levied on any His Majesties Subjects 
within this Province, or their Estates, upon any manner or 
colour of pretence, but by the Act and consent of the Gover- 
nour. Council and representatives of the People in General As- 
sembly met and assembled. 

Now to the end we may further make out to the world the 
unreasonableness as well as the illegality of this, we cannot 
omit to advertise the Impartial reader. That in the year 1683 
arrived at this Province Colonel Thomas Dongan, appointed 
his Majesties Governour under his Royal Highness the Duke 
of York, the Lord Proprietor of this Province, who in a short 
time after his arrival here according to particular instructions 
given him by his said Royal Highness, did issue forth writs 
to the several Counties within this Province for the Electing 
of Members to serve in General Assembly, which accordingly 
was done and the same were convened and begun their first 
Session on the day of October, and the first Act which 
passed this Session was that their order refers to, wherein 
our Representatives wisely provided against the critick Lawyers 
of this Age, who too nicely distinguish betwixt the Kings sub- 
jects inhabiting within the realm of England, and those in- 
habiting his Dominions abroad, denying the latter the privi- 
ledges confessed to be the undoubted birthright of the former, 
upon which our said Representatives prudently in the first 
part of that Act endeavour to secure unto themselves and 
posterities what was the birth-right of every free born subject 
of England. This being done, they continue this Act for the 
defraying of the necessary charges of this Government, which 
begins thus, 

"The representatives of his Royal Highnesses Province of 
New York, convened in General Assembly, Have, for and in 
consideration of the many gracious and Royal favours expressed 
and extended to the Inhabitants of this His Province ; and also 
for the bountiful confirming and reserving to them and their 
posterity, the rights and Priviledges, Liberties and Immunities 
before recited and expressed and for the better defraying of 
the necessary charges and expences of this Province" 

How far this Act is binding upon the Inhabitants of this 
Province, will further appear, by duly considering another 
clause of this very Act which runs thus, 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 343 

"That all Bills agreed upon by the said Representatives 
or the Major part of them shall be presented unto the Gover- 
nour and his Council for their approbation and consent; all 
and every which said Bills so approved of and consented to 
by the Governour and Council shall be esteemed and accounted 
the Laws of this Province, which said Laws shall continue and 
remain in force until they be repealed by the Authority afore- 
said," that is to say the Governour, Council and Representa- 
tives in General Assembly, by and with the approbation of 
his Royal Highness, or expire by their own limitations. 

Now that this act of the Assembly, in a strick sense, cannot 
be allowed to be a law of this Province and so not binding 
upon its Inhabitants, we humbly offer these reasons : 

First, For that by the Authority aforesaid this act never was 
assented unto, the approbation of His Royal Highness being 
always wanting, who was so far afterwards from approving of it, 
that he utterly disallowed the same, and that first by a Letter 
to his Governour Colonel Thomas Dongan, and afterwards 
coming to the Imperial Crown of England he publickly dis- 
allowed that Act by sending over a Commission under the 
broad seale of England to the said Colonel Dongan, to be Cap- 
tain General of this Province and with seven Councillors to 
govern the Inhabitants thereof, any five of which Councillors 
made a Quorum and the Majority of that five with the Cap- 
tain General were empowered to make all laws. A method 
contrary to what the afore recited Acts prescribe. 

Secondly, Our second Reason why this Act is no ways 
binding on the Inhabitants of this Province, is that the Cus- 
toms, Impositions and Excises granted unto his then Royal 
Highness, his Heirs and successors, in the said Act were given 
in consideration of his said Royal Highness Confirming to the 
Inhabitants the Charter Priviledges making up the first part 
of the said Act, which never was enjoyed by the Inhabitants 
nor confirmed to them but the contrary as is proved. 

Thirdly, For that hitherto wee are ignorant of any Law 
either made within the Realm of England or this their Majesties 
Province by which the Inhabitants thereof are obliged to pay 
unto his Majesty the Custom and Excise set down in the before 
recited pretended Act of Assembly. 

When any such Law is produced, those of us who have 



344 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

signed to pay unto King William the Customs due unto him, 
when legally demanded, shall readily comply; but until that 
be done, we cannot see those Notes given by several of us for 
peace and quietness sake (importing no more than what is 
above written) are any ways obligatory. 

However, when it shall please Almighty God a Govemour 
arrives to this Province from ICing William, we are ready to 
submit this point as well as all other Abuses and irregularities 
done unto us, then to be decided in a Legal way and manner. 
To a Govemour so arriving, we shall not be backward to assist, 
either wdth our persons or Estates, for the more orderly and 
peaceable Governing this Province and defraying the Public 
Charges thereof in such a way and manner as shall be Legally 
agreed on. 

On the 23d December about seven or eight a Clock in the 
Evening, Jacob De Key Junior, son to Jacob De Key already 
mentioned, with Cornelius Depeyster son to the widow Cor- 
nells, both lads, were violently carried away to the Fort by 
force of Arms without Mittimus or Legal process, alledging 
they had defaced and torn down the order of the pretended 
Lieutenant Governor and his Council, which upon a due ex- 
amination will evidently appear, was standing several hours 
after their committment. How sollicitous this cruel usurper 
is to vent the fury of his rage against both young and old is 
evident to all by the illegal confinement of these two lads for 
no other cause but his own arbitrary will and pleasure. 

The same Night an Indian Slave belonging to Philip French 
was dragged to the Fort and there Imprisoned. 

The next day Mr French, falling in amongst some of Leys- 
lers crew, resented the injury done unto him by the illegal 
detaining of his Slave so highly that some of the standers-by 
immediately went and informed against him, so that in a short 
time after as the said French was walking in the publick streets 
of this City about his lawful affairs, John Burger Serjeant to 
this Usurper Leysler, attended with six Musqueteers, lays 
violent hands on him and tells him he was his Prisoner and to 
the Fort he must go. Mr French replyed, "not unless you 
carry me," which accordingly they did, in the nature of a 
dead Corpse, though living, where he soon meets with the En- 
tertainment of a close imprisonment. 



1689] A MODEST NARRATIVE 345 

Some hours after the Commitment of this his Majestys 
Subject, by his own particular request, Captain John Tuder 
and Mr James Emet, both allowed Attorneys of this Province, 
made application to his Gaoler Leysler for a copy of his mitti- 
mus in order to their taking such care for their clients enlarge- 
ment as the Law allowed of, and directed unto ; All the answer 
they obtained at that time was That he could do nothing 
without advising with his Council and they should meet in 
the Evening when they might re-attend. This they carefully 
did though to little purpose; for they were denied entrance 
into the Fort that Evening several times; nor could they be 
admitted to speak with their Client, so that near twenty four 
hours were expired er'e this Usurper saw cause to deliver the 
following papers which for the readers satisfaction, we shall 
here recite Verbatim. 

Fort William, Deer 24th Anno 1689. 

Whereas complaint is made to me, That Mr Philip French hath 
in a most insolent manner contemned this Government, threatening 
to tare off (if it had not been already done) the Proclamation for con- 
tinuing his Majesties Customs and Excise, according to an Act of 
Assembly, etc., although it was forbid all persons at their peril, 

These are in his Majesty King William's name to will and re- 
quire you to bring the said French before me and Council, to answer 
for the same. 

Given under my hand and seal the date abovesaid. 

Jacob Lsysler. 
To Sergeant John Burgher, and his assistants. 

At a Council ^ held in New York the 24th of December, Anno 1689. 

Present — Lieut. Governour, Mas. Cuyler 

Samuel Edsall, Benjamin Blagg 

Thos. Williams, Jno Van Coussenkeven 
Hendrick Janse Alderman 

V^ereas Philip French hath behaved himself very contemptu- 
ously against the Lieutenant Governour and Council, as by Evidence 
taken before him doth appear, and continueth in the same, being 
examined before them, 

1 This list shows some changes since the council was first named. "Janse" 
should be Jansen, and "Coussenkeven" Couwenhoven. 



346 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

Ordered, That the said French be forthwith committed to safe 
custody within Fort William, till further consultation in this matter. 

A true Copy, Examined by 

Jacob Milborn, Secretary 

Now whether the reason of this Usurpers deferring the de- 
livery of the warrant and Order of the Council, above described, 
may not rationally be construed, as some do, that the warrant 
directed to Serjeant John Burger and his assistants was written 
several hours after Mr French's being close prisoner, or not, 
is a question we shall not now insist on. 

The Warrant and Order of Council above written coming 
to the hands of the before named Attorneys, on the behalf of 
their Client they apply themselves afresh to the pretended 
Lieutenant Governour and Council sitting on Christmas Day 
in the Evening, to whom they signified, That having perused 
the warrant and order of Council by which Mr Philip French 
was committed close prisoner within the Fort, they found 
nothing contained in either, but what according to the known 
Laws of England as well as this Province was Bailable, and for 
that end and purpose they appeared before them on the be- 
half of their Client, to offer Bail to the value of Twenty Thou- 
sand Pounds if desired, for his appearance in any Court of 
Record within this County, there to abide such Determination 
as by Legal process should be made against him, for or by 
reason of the charge alledged against him in the aforesaid 
warrant and order of Council. All the Arguments used by 
these Gentlemen of the Law no ways prevailed with this cruel 
Leysler, and his nominal Council, whom he is making use of 
as his Tools for the better cloaking of his own arbitrary Illegal 
actions and intentions. It seems as if this usurper were of 
the same opinion with some Soldiers in Plutarch's time, who 
wondered any would be so importunate as to preach Law and 
Moral Reason to men with swords by their sides, as if Arms 
knew not how to descend to rational Inquiries. All the satis- 
faction given to this so lawful demand of Bail on the prisoners 
behalf, was only some small diversion. Our late upstart States- 
man, Mr Milboume, now advanced to the Secretaries Office 
by his new made Lieutenant Governour, was pleased to afford 
them by dropping now and then his wonted obscure sentence, 
askuig the Prisoners Council, Whether they would submit the 



1690] A MODEST NARRATIVE 347 

determination of their Clients cause to the Lieutenant Gover- 
nour and Council? Who thereupon modestly enquired in 
what capacity they sat there whether Military or Civil ? An- 
swer was made by Melborne, Both. The uncertainty of this 
reply as well as its unreasonableness, yielded fresh matter to 
argue upon, all which centered here, that our dark politician 
demanded, How they would help themselves, or by what means 
they would be relieved? To whom it might have been fitly 
replyed, In the same way and manner as you, not many years 
past, recovered forty five pounds by a legal course, against 
Sir Edmund Andros, for nine hours false Imprisonment. For 
notwithstanding the many endeavours used by our Usurper 
to quash the various reports coming to us many ways of a 
Govemour hastening from his Majesty for this Province, we 
are not discouraged in our expectations of and well wishing 
for his safe arrival, and then we doubt not but to see some of 
our Usurpers receive the just demerits of their illegal Ar- 
bitrary doings. 

The 4th of January Captain John Tuder, by particular 
warrant from Mr Philip French, applied himself to the Mayor 
of this City with the Kings writ of Habeas Corpus returnable 
to the next Mayors Court, which was the 7th of the same 
Month. This writ so signed by the Mayor was safely con- 
veyed to Mr French and by him delivered to his keeper, who 
forthwith acquainted the head Goaler Leysler therewith, who 
immediately ordered the windows where the said French was 
confined to be nailed up and that a more strict watch should 
be kept over him as if the cruelties already exercised towards 
this free bom subject of England were not sufficient, who 
hitherto hath been denyed the access of his friends and ac- 
quaintance, no not so much as his Counsellors at Law ad- 
mitted to come near him, a usuage more cruel and barbarous 
than the most notorious Fellon, Traytor or Rebel commonly 
meet withal. 

The 7th day of January being come and the Mayors Court 
sitting, Mr John Tuder dilligently attended it, expecting to 
have met his Client there, by virtue of the aforesaid writ; 
waiting a considerable time and no appearance of Mr French 
he informed that Court, That the Mayor was pleased on the 
4th Instant to sign his Majesties writ of Habeas Corpus for 



348 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1690 

the bringing the body of the said Mr French together with the 
cause of his Committment before that Court, where he was 
ready to argue on the behalf of his Ghent the matter of Law 
that might arise ; but seeing he was disappointed by the afore- 
said writ being disobeyed, he should take upon him to open 
to the Court the nature of the said writ which (said he) is a 
writ granted in the subjects favour to prevent the illegal de- 
tainure of any of the Kings Subjects falsely Imprisoned, so 
that a violation of this kind was a crime of the deepest dye, 
and every subject was nearly concerned therein, none knowing 
whose turn it might be next to have their Liberties subjected 
to the Arbitrary will and pleasure of this Man (Leysler). 

Also, to the Bench he directed himself in this manner, 
"You who are the Mayor and Aldermen for the time being of 
this City and so consequently the Patrons thereof, it behoves 
you to take care, the Ancient Liberties and freedoms of this 
City be not infringed and that its Inhabitants be not in this 
manner dragg'd, by a Marshal force, to the Fort, and there 
kept close prisoners." 

Our Usurpers Oracle Milborne, being present in the Court, 
after a long continued Silence, Learnedly expressed himself 
thus; "I do affirm to this Court that Mr French is none of the 
Kings Subjects," without giving any further reasons. At 
which the standers by hissed and some publickly charged him 
with being the principal Actor of our present troubles. 

On the 12th January certain advice coming to this place 
of a Ship designed to this Port, whereof one Prents was Master, 
being struck on some Rocks near New London, and Mr French 
being chiefly concerned in the Loading, was forced to submit 
to this proud usurper and to Petition him by the Title of 
Lieutenant Governour who had before menaced him, if he 
would not give the Title of Lieutenant Governour he would 
put him where he should never see the face of Man more. 
To prevent which and the exigency of his affairs at that time 
he gratified the Ambitious Humour of this man Leysler and 
thereby obtained his Liberty, upon his and Mr Thos. Winham's 
entering into a recognizance of five Hundred Pounds to the 
King, for the said French his good behavior during twelve 
months and a day from the date thereof. 

To return again to our account of the two lads first Im- 



1690] A MODEST NARRATIVE 849 

prisoned. Cornelius Depeyster, by the humble petition of 
his Mother, was set at Liberty. Jacob De Key is still under 
confinement albeit his enlargement has been much endeavoured 
by his Master, Mr John Barbary,^ a considerable Merchant 
in this City, who went to his Goaler Leysler and offered Two 
Thousand Pounds security for his Mans appearance to answer 
a legal process against him, to which end and purpose a copy 
of his Mittimus hath divers times been demanded, but could 
not be obtained, nor no bail would be taken ; nothing will serve 
this proud usurper Leysler nor release this Lad, but his parents 
sending in a Petition, directed to Jacob Leysler, Lieutenant 
Governour and his Council, wherein they must beg forgiveness 
for faults they are ignorant of their sons being guilty of. A 
strange and unheard of method, to force people to pay Homage 
to his person ! Children must be taken from their Parents, 
Servants from their Masters, Husbands from their Wives, 
Masters from their families, and all this on no other acc't 
than their denying to give this proud usurper Leysler a title 
that no way appertains or belongs to him. 

And we dare this proud man to produce, if he can, any 
actions against those Inhabitants he most maliciously Char- 
acterizes as Popishly affected so much savouring of Popery as 
these we charge him with, and are read}^ to prove against him 
when a convenient time and opportunity presents. 

For we pray the unbyassed reader, what is the difference 
betwixt bloody Bishop Bonner's Coal-hole,^ and this cruel un- 
merciful Usurpers Dungeon and Bullet-hole, the former being 
fitted and prepared for the poor Protestants, that would not 
idolize their consecrated Wafer, this latter for the quiet In- 
habitants of this their Majesties Province who cannot in their 
conscience ascribe that Honour to him, which is only the right 
of the King to infer upon him and then its time enough for 
his subjects to obey. 

The 13th January this Usurper Leysler sends under the 
command of Lieu't Churchill ^ twenty soldiers over to Long 

*John Barberie was a French Huguenot merchant and an elder in the 
French Church. 

2 See Foxe's Book of Martyrs; Bonner was the persecuting bishop of London 
in Queen Mary's time. 

3 William Churcher, above, p. 325, note 2. 



350 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1690 

Island, the next day they came to Jamaica, where they in a 
violent manner by force of arms broke open the House of Mr 
Daniel Whitehead, one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace 
appointed by our Governour Sir Edmund Andros, and being 
entered into the house they in like manner aforesaid brake 
open several chests and boxes, but found not what they looked 
for, and so returned the next day without doing any more 
mischeif as we yet hear of. 

On the Sixteenth of January the Publick Post Mr John 
Perry, setting out from the House of Colonel Lewis Morris^ 
towards Boston, was not advanced on his way above a quarter 
of a mile before he was laid hold on by a warrant from our 
Usurper Leysler, and brought back to this place — New York 
— with his Letters which were opened and perused at the will 
and pleasure of this arbitrary Man, who its plain and evident 
unto all that are not wilfully blind, hath made it his contri- 
vance how to ruin the Inhabitants, and hinder the Prosperity 
of this Province, ever since his taking upon him to Govern 
by the Sword, which he hath in great measure affected, by his 
continual breach of the peace, and obstructing the due course 
of Law and Justice. But lest this was not sufficient, he re- 
solves to destroy, as much as in him lies, the Commerce and 
Trade of this Province. A more ready way than this could 
not have been taken by him for that purpose, to obstruct and 
hinder advice, which is acknowledged by all to be the Life of 
Trade; for how can this be given or received, where inter- 
cepting Mens private Letters is become so modish with our 
pretended rulers, as that they are so far counting it a Crime, 
as by their Action they deem it a virtue. 

Before we draw to a conclusion of this our Declaration and 
Narration, which is already swelled beyond its intended limits, 
we cannot omit transcribing two other branches of the pre- 
tended Act of Assembly, they seemingly make such a pudder^ 

^ Colonel Lewis Morris was a Quaker, and the house here mentioned was 
in Westchester, upon what afterward became the great estate called Morrisania. 
Leisler deemed the place a convenient rendezvous for his opponents, and ac- 
knowledges that he stopped Perry, "a letter carrier," and obtained from him sev- 
eral letters, "whereby," as he wrote to the Bishop of Salisbury, "your Lordship 
may perceive the horrible devices they can invent," among others "a plot to 
massacre them (us) on New Year's Day" (N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 656-657). 

* Pother. 



1690] A MODEST NARRATIVE 351 

about, which upon an impartial Enquiry (allowing it to be an 
Act binding, though that we cannot do, for the reasons already 
given) these our usurpers will be found the greatest violaters 
thereof. The branches we think fit to insert are these fol- 
lowing Viz. 

That no free man shall be taken and imprisoned, or be disseized of 
bis free hold or Liberty or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, 
or any other ways destroyed, nor shall be passed upon. Adjudged 
or Condemned, but by the lawful Judgement of his Peers and by the 
Laws of this Province. 

Justice nor right shall be neither sold, denied or deferred, to 
any man within this Province. 

That in all cases whatsoever. Bail by suflBcient surety shall be 
allowed and taken, unless for Treason or felony, plainly and especially 
expressed and mentioned in the warrant of Commitment. 

How far these our Usurpers Actions evince their little re- 
gard unto the pretended Act of Assembly, except it be to that 
part which would bring Greast to their Mill, let the unbyassed 
judge. 

This arbitrary proud person Leysler having thus far exalted 
himself above his brethren disdains to own his very kindred 
unless they will entitle him Lieutenant Governour, nor will 
he free them from his Bullet-hole on any other terms. 

A plain demonstration of this he hath given by his late 
carriage to Mr Lucas Keerstead/ who after the usual manner 
was forced to go to the Fort; when he came before this Usurper, 
he softly applies himself thus to him, " Cousin Leysler what is 
your wHl and pleasure?" At this he flies out in a great rage, 
"How dare you call me Cousin!" Then he spoke to him by 
the name of Captain, but that would not do, and he was told, 
that if he gave him not the title of Lieutenant Governour he 
would be put among the Bullets. To avoid which, he gave 
him that title, and was then suffered to go home. 

I'ts strange this violent man Leysler, who otherwise is so 
Publick, should be at a stand, when this plain question is put 
to him, "Who gave you this Name !" Why doth he not an- 
swer, as in truth it is, "My Godfather Mr Milborne, and his 
assistant vain glory, together with my God-Mother Ambition, 

' Lucas Kiersted. 



352 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1690 

who have engaged on my behalf, that I should cleave to the 
Infernal Prince and his works, Hug and embrace all the pomps 
and vanities of this wicked world, and as I had hitherto been, 
so I shall continue a faithful servant to that black prince of 
the Air, as long as the many headed beasts the rude multitude 
would stand by me." 

To sum up all, we readily submit the decision of this ques- 
tion to the considerate peruser of the foregoing lines, whether 
those branded by Leysler as King James his men,^ or himself 
and his rude crew, deserve that title most? 

Sure we are, that upon a serious perusal of the Declaration 
Entituled, The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual, and Commons 
Assembled at Westminister Die Martis 12 February 1689, Several 
articles therin exhibited against the late King James and de- 
clared illegal are and have been most notoriously committed 
by this Usurper and his abettors, some whereof we shall here 
insert and set down as in the said printed declaration Vizt. 

That levying money for or to the use of the Crown, by the 
pretence of prerogative without grant of Parliament for longer time 
or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal. 

That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines 
imposed, nor cruel and unreasonable punishment inflicted. 

That this arrogant man Leysler is palpably guilty of both 
these branches before recited we prove thus, Viz. 

That by his instruments he hath and doth exact (by pre- 
tence of Prerogative and for the use of the Crown) Customs 
Impositions and Excise never granted to the Crown; which 
that he might the better accomplish, he hath taken upon him 
to erect a Court of Exchequer, consisting, as members of the 
said Court, viz. Samuel Edsall, Benjamin Blagg, Johanis 
Provest, Hendrick Jansen, John Cowenhoven who began their 
session on the 20th January; the 18th of the same month sev- 
eral of the Inhabitants received summons to appeai:_^t this 

1 Leisler deemed these men "factious disturbers and rioters, who treated 
your Majesty's government with great scorn and contempt." He character- 
ized William NicoUs, son of the former secretary of the province, Matthias Nicolls, 
as a most dangerous person, who had written him an anonymous letter threaten- 
ing "every one who wears the hated name of Leisler with poniard, poison, or 
pistol" iCal St. P. Col, 1689-1692, § 672). 



1690] A MODEST NARRATIVE 353 

unusual Court on the day above said, to give their reasons 
why they would not pay the monies they were indebted to the 
King for Custom. 

The persons so summoned unanimously made choice of 
Mr Thomas Clark to appear for them, who went to the Fort 
where this Court was sitting, and being admitted he first en- 
quires, whether any there had a Commission from King Wil- 
liam to be Baron of his Exchequer?^ And if any, that his 
Commission might be publickly read and afterwards proceeded 
to shew the unreasonableness of their demands; but all to 
little purpose, the Court proceeding to enter Judgements 
against the Inhabitants for whom he appeared, only giving 
them eight days time to consider, whether they would volun- 
tarily pay their (illegal) demands, which otherwise would be 
levied upon them by distress. 

About 4 oClock in the Afternoon of this day, was in some 
measure verified an expression our Usurper not long since was 
pleased to utter to a person of good reputation in this Province 
who enquiring of him By what power he did such Actions? 
To whom he answered, That he was invested with such a power, 
as in a little time he could command the Head of any man in 
the Province, and it would be forthwith brought him. Some- 
thing like hereunto was this day fulfilled ; for giving command 
to William Churchill and several Soldiers with him, assisted by 
several of the Inhabitants of this City, namely Abraham 
Brazier, Abraham Clomp, Wil Tomber, and divers others, they 
go to the House of Colonel Nicholas Bayard and by force of 
Arms entered the same, breaking open several doors and locks, 
in order to the seizure of the said Colonel Bayard, whom (as 
some of them said) they were ordered to take dead or alive. 
Colonel Bayard for his own security had left his own house and 
was gotten into his Neighbours, near his back-side, viz. one 
Mr Richard Elliot a Cooper, whose house in like manner by 
Churchill and his Attendants was broken open, where they 
laid hold of Colonel Bayard and in a most abusive manner 
dragg'd him to the Fort. In this riotous tumult was stoln 
out of the house of the said Elliot three silver spoons. 

But the unlimited will of this violent rapacious Usurper 
was not yet satisfied with the taking and imprisoning Colonel 

^ The judges of the Court of Exchequer in England were called barons. 



354 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1690 

Bayard, nor his malice thereby fully answered, for in like 
manner he vents his fury against Stephanus Van Cortlandt, 
late Mayor of this City, whose house likewise was broken open 
and most of his doors and Locks spoiled though they were 
frustrated of their design, by his escaping out of their cruel 
hands for that time. 

Also Mr William Nicols was laid hold on by the men of 
Breuckle[n]^ at the Ferry-house on Long Island, and was brought 
over in the Evening and carried to the Fort. The next morn- 
ing the Ferry man was in like manner brought to the Fort, 
where these three subjects of their Majesties are illegally im- 
prisoned, and with whom how barbarously they intend to 
deal. Time will best discover. 

We shall end this our Declaration and Protestation narra- 
tively set down by naming the principal authors of our prin- 
cipal miseries, which are these following, vizt. 

Jacob Leysler Thos. Williams 

Jacob Milborne Jno Cowenhoven 

Samuel Edsall Benj Blagg 

Dr Geo Beckman of Flackbus'^ Hend'k Jansen 
Peter De Lanoy, Hend'k Cuyler 

Dr Samuel States 
Against whom we wait a fair opportunity legally to pro- 
ceed. Dated in New York 21. Jany A. D. 1690. 

Finis. 

^ Brooklyn, originally named from Breuckelen in the Netherlands. 
' Vlacke Bos, Flatbush, on Long Island. 



A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN OF THE 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 1698 



I 



INTRODUCTION 

The two accounts that follow cover, though in briefer 
fashion, the ground traversed by the Modest and Impartial 
Narrative and continue the story to the close of the insurrection 
and the execution of Leisler and Milborne. The hasty execu- 
tion of the two leaders divided the people of city and province 
into two antagonistic parties that remained unreconciled until 
the rise of a new generation and new issues brought peace to 
the colony. During the administrations of Sloughter, In- 
goldesby, and Fletcher, 1691-1698, the anti-Leislerian party 
was in the ascendant. Though Fletcher, on his arrival in 
1692, was greeted with "demands of reperation for Leslier's 
bloud and soe suddaine a storm" as to surprise him, and though 
in the same year he was ordered by the Privy CouncU to re- 
lease the remaining prisoners and in 1694 by Parliament to 
restore the confiscated property, he nevertheless identified 
himself with the hostile party and made strenuous efforts to 
keep all Leislerites out of office and power. He was not an 
amiable man himself, and his administration was marked by 
corruption, intimidation, and factional rule. 

In the year 1695 leading Leislerites, Jacob Leisler, jr., 
and Abraham Gouverneur, brought to the attention of the 
Lords of Trade the miserable state of the province. As their 
charges seemed to be confirmed by other complaints from the 
colony and by reliable witnesses heard at the Plantation Office, 
the board finally decided to recommend the removal of Fletcher 
and the appointment of the Earl of Bellomont in his place. 
Though Fletcher declared that "as to the complaints given in 

357 



358 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS 

against me, I thank God I have a clear and undisturbed mind 
and shall be able to vindicate myself/' he and his anti-Leis- 
lerian councillors, Nicholas Bayard, William Nicolls, William 
Pinhorne, and Chidley Brooke, met frequently at his lodgings 
and there concocted measures for defense and means whereby 
to influence public opinion against the Leislerian cause. A 
month before Bellomont's arrival in April, 1698, at a formal 
council meeting, they approved the printing and circulating 
of a letter "found at the printers" which contained "nothing 
but truth." This paper, entitled A Letter from a Gentleman of 
New York, was written probably by the Scottish secretary of 
the council, David Jamison, at the request of Bayard, Nicolls, 
and Brooke, and was printed by William Bradford in 1698. It 
repeats in simpler and more direct fashion the earlier denuncia- 
tions of the Leislerites, calling Leisler "a vile usurper," his allies 
men "of mean birth, sordid education, and desperate fortunes," 
and his followers "poor, ignorant, and senseless folk." Bello- 
mont thought it "calculated to put this Town and Country 
into combustion," as it probably was. A reply was imme- 
diately draughted and printed in Boston, entitled Loyalty Vindi- 
cated, which answers point by point the charges made in the 
Letter. The author is not known, nor is there any clue in the 
paper itself to his identity. He was clearly an Englishman, 
not a Dutchman, but beyond that nothing can be definitely 
stated. The Boston imprint is suggestive, in view of the sup- 
port given to the Leislerites by the opponents there of the 
governor, Joseph Dudley, who had presided at Leisler's trial 
in New York. Of the three accounts here printed this is the 
only one that presents the Leislerian side of the case. 

The Letter from a Gentleman of New York was reprinted in 
1849 in the Documentary History of the State of New York, II. 
425-435, octavo ed., and again in 1887 in Collectanea Ada- 
mantcea, vol. XXII. (Edinburgh). It is here reprinted from a 
rare copy of the original Bradford print, in the New York 



INTRODUCTION 359 

Public Library. The Loyalty Vindicated was reprinted in the 
Collections of the New York Historical Society, 1868, pp. 365- 
394, from a copy of the original in the possession of the society. 
The text here reproduced is that printed in the Collections. 



A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN OF THE 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 1698 

A Letter From A Gentleman of the City of New-York To Another, 
Concerning the Troubles which happen'd in That Province 
in the Time of the late Happy Revolution. 

Printed and Sold by William Bradford at the Sign of the Bible 
in New-York, 1698. 

Sir; 

I CANNOT but admire to hear that some Gentlemen still 
have a good Opinion of the late Disorders committed by Capt. 
Jacob Leysler, and his Accomplices, in New- York, as if they 
had been for His Majesties Service, and the Security of that 
Province ; and that such Monstrous Falshoods do find Credit, 
That the Persons before in Commission, and did labour to 
oppose and prevent those Disorders, were Jacobites, or Per- 
sons ill affected to the Happy Revolution in England. But 
it has been often the Calamity of all Ages to palliate Vice with 
false Glosses, and to criminate the best Actions of the most 
Virtuous and most Pious Men. So that Truth and Innocency, 
without some Defence, has not proved at all times a sufficient 
Bull work against malitious Falshoods and Calumnies. Where- 
fore 1 shall endeavour to give you a true and brief Account of 
that matter, as I my self have been a Personal Witness to 
most of them. 

It was about the beginning of April, 1689, when the first 
Reports arrived at New- York, that the Prince of Orange, now 
his present Majesty, was arrived in England with consider- 
able Forces, and that the late King James was fled into France, 
and that it was expected War would be soon proclaimed be- 
tween England and France. 

The Leiut. Governour, Francis Nicholson, and the Council, 
being Protestants, resolved thereupon to suspend all Roman 

360 



i^&Si/feS;/':^*****?!*^ ■ ' 



LETTER 

From A 

(ientUman 

Of THE 

City of New - York 

To Another, 

Concerning the Troubles which happened 

in That Province in the Time of the lata Hsppy 
ilEVOLUTION. 






Printed and Sold by WiltiMm Brtdford »t the Sign of thc> , 
Bible in JN€w - Jork, 1698. 



TITLE PAGE OF "A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN OF 

THE CITY OF NEW YORK," 1(598 

From an original in the New York Puhlif Lil)rary 



1689] LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN 361 

Catholicks^ from Command and Places of Trust in the Gov- 
ernment, and accordingly suspended Major Baxter from being 
a Member of Council and Captain of a Company at Albany, 
and Bartholomew Russel from being Ensign in the Fort at 
New- York, they both being Papists, who forth-with left their 
Command, and departed the Province. 

And because but three Members of the Council were re- 
siding in New- York, viz. Mr. Frederick Phillips, Coll. Stephanus 
Cortlandt, and Coll. Nicholas Bayard, all of Dutch Birth, all 
Members, and the two last, for the space of near thirty Years 
past, Elders and Deacons of the Dutch Protestant Church in 
New- York, and most affectionate to the Royal House of 
Orange, It was Resolved by the said Lieut. Governor and 
Council, to call and conveen to their Assistance all the Justices 
of the Peace, and other civil Magistrates, and the Commission 
Officers in the Province, for to consult and advise with them 
what might be proper for the Preservation of the Peace, and 
the Safety of said Province in that Conjuncture, till Orders 
should arrive from England. 

Whereupon the said Justices, Magistrates and Officers 
were accordingly convened, and stiled by the Name of The 
General Convention for the Province of New-York; and all 
matters of Government were carried on and managed by the 
major Vote of that Convention. ^ 

And in the first place it was by them agreed and ordered, 
Forth-with to fortifie the City of New-York. 

And that for the better Security of the Fort (since the 
Garrison was weak, and to prevent all manner of Doubts and 
Jealousies) a competent Number of the City Militia should 
keep Guard in said Fort, and Nicholas Bayard, Coll. of said 
Militia, recommended to give suitable Orders accordingly. 

And that the Revenue should be continued and received 

^ There were four prominent Roman Catholics in New York at this time, 
Anthony Brockholes, Jervas Baxter, Bartholomew Russell, and Matthew Plow- 
man. Dongan reported but "few Roman Catholics" in his day, and this state- 
ment seems to be borne out by his attempt "to erect a Jesuit College upon 
cullour to learn latine. . . . Mr. Graham, Judge Palmer, and John Tuder did 
contribute their sons for some time, but no boddy imitating them the collidge 
vanished" {N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 415; Doc. Hist. N. Y., octavo ed., II. 23). 

2 It will be noticed that this "General Convention" was not a general 
assembly and in no sense represented the people of the province. 



362 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

by some Gentlemen appointed by that Convention, for Re- 
pairing the Fort, and Fortifying of the City ; but against this 
Order Capt. Leysler (who as a Captain was a Member of 
that Convention) did enter his dissent, with some few others. 

It was also recommended to said Coll. Bayard to hasten 
to fortifie the City with all possible speed, who upon the Credit 
of the Revenue did advance what Money was needful for 
Materials, And by the Assistance of the Militia Officers, and 
daily Labour of the Inhabitants, had the same finish't before 
the end of May, excepting Capt, Leysler's Quota. 

About the middle of May the Ship Beaver, John Corbit 
Master, being ready to sail for England, the Lieut. Governour 
and Council sent in her by Mr. John Riggs,^ and in several 
other Ships that soon followed, Letters to the Earl, now Duke, 
of Shrewsbury, then Principal Secretary of State, and to the 
Lords of the Committee for Trade and Plantations, wherein 
they signified their rejoycing at the News of his Royal High- 
ness the Prince of Orange, now his present Majesties, arrival 
in England, in order to Redress the Grievances of the Nation, 
and giving a particular Account of the state of Affairs of this 
Province, and that they would endeavour to preserve its Peace 
and Security till Orders should arrive from England, which 
they humbly prayed might be hastened with all possible speed. 
Which said Letters were most graciously received, and an- 
swered ^ by his Majesties Letter, bearing date the 30th of 
July, 1689. 

But against Expectation it soon happened, that on the 
last day of said Moneth of May, Capt. Leysler having a Vessel 
with some Wines in the Road,^ for which he refused to pay 
the Duty, did in a Seditious manner stir up the meanest sort 
of the Inhabitants (affirming. That King James being fled the 
Kingdom, all manner of Government was fallen in this Prov- 
ince) to rise in Arms, and forcibly possess themselves of the 

^ John Riggs had been an ensign under Andros in Boston. He sailed from 
New York on May 18. 

2 There is nothing to show that the royal letter, which is printed at the end 
of this narrative, p. 371, was an answer to the letters of the lieutenant-governor 
and council. As we have already seen, the form of address is similar to that used 
in the letters sent to Massachusetts and Maryland (above, p. 338, note 2). The 
councillors are not named, nor are they the persons necessarily addressed. 

' Road = harbor. 



1689] LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN 363 

Fort and Stores, which accordingly was effected whilest the 
Lieut. Governour and Council, with the Convention, were met 
at the City Hall to consult what might be proper for the com- 
mon Good and Safety; where a party of Armed Men came 
from the Fort, and forced the Lieut. Governour to deliver them 
the Keys ; and seized also in his Chamber a Chest with Seven 
Hundred Seventy Three Pounds, Twelve Shillings, in Money 
of the Government. And though Coll. Bayard, with some 
others appointed by the Convention, used all endeavours to 
prevent those Disorders, all proved vain; for most of those 
that appeared in Arms were Drunk, and cryed out. They dis- 
own'd all manner of Government. Whereupon, by Capt. 
Leysler's perswasion, they proclaimed him to be their Com- 
mander, there being then no other Commission Qjfficer amongst 
them. 

Capt. Leysler being in this manner possest of the Fort, 
took some Persons to his Assistance, which he call'd. The 
Committee of Safety. And the Lieut. Governour, Francis 
Nicollson, being in this manner forced out of his Command, 
for the safety of his Person, which was daily threatned, with- 
drew out of the Province. 

About a week after. Reports came from Boston, That their 
Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princes of Orange were pro- 
claimed King and Queen of England. Whereupon the Coun- 
cil and Convention were very desirous to get that Proclama- 
tion, and not only wrote for it, but some of them hearing that 
two Gentlemen were coming from Connecticut with a Copy of 
said Proclamation, went out two days to meet them, in expec- 
tation of having the Happiness to proclaim it; but Major 
Gold and Mr. Fitz, missing them, having put the Proclamation 
into Capt. Leysler's hands, he, without taking any Notice of 
the Council or Convention, did proclaim the same, though 
very disorderly, after which he went with his Accomplices to 
the Fort, and the Gentlemen of the Council and Magistrates, 
and most of the principal Inhabitants and Merchants, went to 
Coll. Bayards House and drank the Health and Prosperity of 
King William and Queen Mary with great Expressions of Joy. 

Two days after, a printed Proclamation was procured by 
some of the Council, dated the 14th of February, 1688, whereby 
their Majesties confirmed all Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, 



364 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

Collectors and Receivers of the Revenues, etc., being Protes- 
tants; which was forth- with published at the City Hall by the 
Mayor and Alder-men, accompanyed with the Council, and 
most of the chief Citizens and Merchants. And pursuant 
thereunto the Collector, Mat. Plowman, being a Papist, was 
forth-with suspended by the Convention; and Coll. Bayard, 
Alder-man, Paul Richards, Capt. Thomas Winham, and Lieut. 
John Haynes, Merchants, were by them commissionated and 
appointed to collect the Revenue until Orders should arrive 
from England. Whereupon those Gentlemen were sworn by 
Coll. Cortland, then Major^ of the City, they being the first in 
this Province that took the Oathes to their Majesties appointed 
by Act of Parliament, instead of the Oathes of Allegiance and 
Supreamacy. 

But as soon as those Gentlemen entered upon the Office, 
Capt. Leysler with a party of his Men in Arms, and Drink, 
fell upon them at the Custom-House, and with Naked Swords 
beat them thence, endeavouiing to Massacree some of them, 
which were Rescued by Providence.^ Whereupon said Leys- 
ler beat an Alarm, crying about the City, ''Treason, Treason," 
and made a strict search to seize Coll. Bayard, who made his 
escape, and departed for Albany, where he staid all Summer, 
in hopes that Orders might arrive from England to settle those 
Disorders. 

The said Capt. Leysler, finding almost every man of Sence, 
Reputation, or Estate in the place to oppose and discourage 
his Irregularities, caused frequent false Alarms to be made, 
and sent several parties of his armed Men out of the Fort, 
drag'd into nasty Goals within said Fort several of the prin- 
cipal Magistrates, Officers and Gentlemen, and others, that 
would not own his Power to be lawful, which he kept in close 
Prison during Will and Pleasure, without any Process, or allow- 
ing them to Bail. And he further publish't several times, by 
beat of Drums, That all those who would not come into the 
Fort and sign their hands, and so thereby to own his Power 
to be lawful, should be deemed and esteemed as Enemies to 
his Majesty and the Country, and be by him treated accord- 

^ Mayor. 

2 The four men were turned out by Leisler, and Delanoy was appointed in 
their place, June 25. 



1689] LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN 365 

ingly. By which means many of the Inhabitants, tho' they 
abhor'd his Actions, only to escape a nasty Goal and to secure 
their Estates were by fear and compulsion drove to comply, 
submit and sign to whatever he commanded. 

And though Capt. Leysler had at first so violently opposed 
the collecting of the Revenue, alledging it unlawful, as soon as 
his Wines were landed, and that he got into some Power, he 
forth-with set up for himself the collecting of said Revenue 
by Peter d' Lanoy, allowing him a great Sallary, and all the 
Perquisits of that Office. 

Upon the 10th of December following returned the said 
Mr. John Riggs from England, with Letters from his Majesty 
and the Lords, in answer to the Letters sent by the Lieut. 
Governour and Council above recited, Directed, "To Our 
Trusty and Well-beloved Francis Nicholson, Esq; Our Lieu- 
tenant Governour and Commander in chief of Our Province 
of New- York in America, and in his absence To such as for 
the time being, take care for the Preservation of the Peace, 
and administring the Laws in Our said Province." Whereby 
his Majesty approved of the Proceedings and Care that had 
been taken by said Lieut. Governour and Council for the 
Peace and Safety of the Province, with further Power and 
Directions to continue therein till further Orders. Which said 
Letters the said Mr. Riggs designed to deliver on the follow- 
ing Morning to the Gentlemen of the Council, to whom they 
properly did belong, being an answer to their said Letter; but 
was obstructed therein by said Leysler, who sent a party of 
his Men in Arms, and brought said Riggs to the Fort, where he 
forced said Letters from him; though some Gentlemen of the 
Council, that went the same time to the Fort, protested against 
it, but he drove them out of the Fort, calling them Rogues, 
Papists, and other opprobious Names. 

Soon after the Receipt of said Letters, said Capt. Leysler 
stiled himself Lieutenant Governour, appointed a Council, 
and presumed further to call a select Number of his own 
Party, who called themselves The General Assembly of the 
Province,^ and by their advice and assistance raised several 

*This "Generiil Assembly" was the same as the "Committee of Safety," 
for which see p. 328. One Pieterson testified that "about a month after [June 10] 
a Committee of the representatives of the said province in the nature of a General 



366 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1690 

Taxes and great Sums of Money from their Majesties good 
Subjects within this Province. Which Taxes, together with 
that 773L 12s. in Money, which he had seized from the Govern- 
ment, and the whole Revenue, he applyed to his own use, and 
to maintain said Disorders, allowing his private men ISd. per 
Day, and to others proportionably. 

On the 20th of January following Coll. Bayard and Mr. 
Nicolls had the ill fortune to fall into his hands, and were in a 
barbarous manner, by a party in Arms, drag'd into the Fort, 
and there put into a Nasty place, without any manner of 
Process, or being allowed to bayl, though the same was offered 
for said Coll. Bayard, by some of the ablest and richest In- 
habitants, to the Sum of Twenty Thousand Pounds, either 
for his appearance to answer, or depart the Province, or to go 
for England; but without any Cause given, or Reasons as- 
signed, laid said Coll. Bayard in Irons, and kept him and Mr. 
Nicolls close Prisoners for the space of fourteen Moneths, 
where they, with several others, that had been long detained 
Prisoners, were set at Liberty by Governour Slaughter. 

And whilest he kept those Gentlemen in Prison, he quar- 
tered his armed Men in their Houses, where they committed 
all manner of Outrages; And to give one Instance of many 
others, A Party of twelve Men were quartered at the House 
of Coll. Bayard, with directions to pillage and plunder at dis- 
cretion, which was bought off with Money and plentiful Enter- 
tainment. But the same day, when that party had received 
their Money, another party came in with Naked Swords, 
opened several Chambers and Chests in said House, and did 
Rob and carry away what Money and other Goods they found. ^ 

At the same time Coll. Bayard and Mr. Nicolls were taken, 
strict search was made for Coll. Cortlandt, but he, with sev- 
eral other Gentlemen, having made their escape, were forced 
to leave their Families and Concerns, and remain in Exile, 
till relieved by the arrival of Governour Slaughter.^ 

It is hardly to be exprest what Cruelties Capt. Leysler and 
his Accomplices imposed upon the said Prisoners, and all 

Assembly was held," and Jacob Leisler, jr., in 1695 spoke of the body that ap- 
pointed his father captain of the fort and commander-in-chief as "the Assembly." 

1 Bayard estimated his losses at ;^200. 

* Sloughter arrived March 19, 1691. 



1690] LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN 367 

others that would not own his Power to be lawful. Neither 
could the Protestant Ministers in the Province escape their 
Malice and Cruelty; for Mr. Selyns, Minister of New- York, 
was most grosly abused by Leysler himself in the Church at 
the time of Divine Service, and threatned to be silenced, etc. 
Mr. Dellius, Minister at Albany, to escape a nasty Goal, was 
forced to leave his Flock, and fly for shelter into New-England. 
Mr. Varick, Minister of the Dutch Towns on Nassaw-Island, 
was by armed men drag'd out of his House to the Fort, then 
imprisoned without bayl, for speaking (as was pretended) 
Treasonable words against Capt. Leysler and the Fort; then 
prosecuted, and decreed by Peter d' Lanoy, pretended Judge, 
without any Commission or Authority, To be deprived from 
his Ministerial Function, amerced in a Fine of SOL and to 
remain in close Prison till that Fine should be paid; yea, he 
was so tormented, that in all likelyhood it occasioned and 
hastened the suddain Death of that most Reverend and Re- 
ligious Man. The French Ministers, Mr. Perret and Mr. 
Dellie, had some better Quarters, but were often threatned to 
be prosecuted in like manner, because they would not approve 
of his Power and disorderly proceedings.^ 

None in the Province, but those of his Faction, had any 
safety in their Estates; for said Capt. Leysler, at will and 
pleasure, sent to those who disapproved of his Actions, to 
furnish him with Money, Provisions, and what else he wanted, 
and upon denyal sent armed men out of the Fort, and forcibly 
broke open several Houses, Shops, Cellars, Vessels, and other 
places where they expected to be supplyed, and without any 
the least payment or satisfaction, carried their Plunder to the 

1 Rev. Henricus Selyns was minister in New York and Brooklyn, 1660-1664. 
In the latter year he went to Holland but returned in 1682 and remained minister 
of the Reformed Dutch church in New York until his death, in 1701. Rev. 
Godfrey Dellius was minister of the Dutch church in Albany till 1699. Leisler 
presents his case against him in a letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury {N. Y. Col. 
Docs., in. 753). Rev. Rudolphus Varick was the minister of the Dutch church 
on Long Island, 1686-1693. He was imprisoned for five months by Leisler for 
speaking treasonable words. Rev. Mr. Pieret founded the French church in the 
colony in 1687. He was its pastor until 1690. Rev. Mr. Daille was the French 
colleague of Domine Selyns. All of these ministers, except Domine Varick, 
were opposed to Leisler from the beginning and evidently sought to influence 
their congregations against him. Varick afterward joined with them. 



368 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

Fort; all which was extreamly approved of by those poor 
Fellows which he had about him, and was forced to feed and 
maintain; and so he stiled those his Robberies with the 
gilded Name and Pretence, That it was for their Majesties 
King WiUiam and Queen Mary's special Service, though it 
was after found out, that whole Cargo's of those stolen goods 
were sold to his Friends in the City, and Shipt off for the 
West Indies and else where. 

In this manner he the said Leysler, with his Accomplices, 
did force, pillage, rob and steal from their Majesties good 
Subjects within this Province, almost to their utter Ruin, vast 
Sums of Money, and other Effects, the estimation of the 
Damages done only within this City of New- York amounting, 
as by Account may appear, to the Sum of Thirteen Thousand 
Nine Hundred and Fifty Nine Pounds, besides the Rapines, 
Spoils and Violences done at Coll. Willets^ on Nassaw-Island, 
and to many others in several parts of the Province. 

And thus you may see how he used and exercised an Exor- 
bitant, Arbitrary and Unlawful Power over the Persons and 
Estates of his Majesties good Subjects here, against the known 
and Fundamental Laws of the Land, and in subvertion of the 
same, to the great Oppression of his Majesties Subjects, and 
to the apparent decay of Trade and Commerce. 

In this Calamity, Misery and Confusion was this Province, 
by those Disorders, enthrawled near the space of two years, 
until the arrival of his Majesties Forces, under the command 
of Major Ingoldsby, who, with several Gentlemen of the Coun- 
cil, arrived about the last day of January, 1690/1, which said 
Gentlemen of the Council, for the Preservation of the Peace, 
sent and offered to said Leysler, That he might stay and con- 
tinue his Command in the Fort, only desiring for themselves 
and the Kings Forces quietly to quarter and refresh themselves 
in the City, till Governour Slaughter should arrive; but the 
said Leysler, instead of complying, asked Mr. Brooke,^ one of 

* Captain Thomas Willett was at the head of the Long Island militia. His 
name survives in Willett' s Point. 

2 Chidley Brooke came to New York in the Beaver with Ingoldesby and the 
soldiers, January 25, 1691. His later career as collector, receiver-general, and 
naval officer forms an interesting chapter in the history of provincial New York. 
He was suspended from office by Bellomont in 1698. 



1691] LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN 369 

his Majesties Council, Who were appointed of the Council in 
this Province? and Mr. Brooke having named Mr. Phillips, 
Coll. Cortland and Coll. Bayard, he fell into a Passion and 
cry'd, "What ! those Papist Dogs, Rogues ! Sacrament ! if the 
King should send Three Thousand such I would cut them all 
off"; And without any cause given, he proclaimed open War 
against them. Whereupon they, for Self-preservation, pro- 
tection of the Kings Forces and Stores, and the safety of the 
City, were necessitated to perswade to their assistance several 
of their Majesties good Subjects then in Opposition against 
the said Leysler, with no other intent, as they signified to him 
by several Letters and Messages, but only for self-security 
and Defence ; yet notwithstanding, the said Leysler proceeded 
to make War against them and the Kings Forces, and fired a 
vast Number of great and small Shot in the City, whereby 
several of his Majesties Subjects were killed and wounded as 
they passed in the streets upon their lawful Occasions, tho' 
no Opposition was made on the other side. 

At this height of Extremity was it when Governour Slaugh- 
ter arrived on the 19th of March, 1691, who having publish't 
his Commission from the City Hall, with great signs of Joy, 
by firing all the Artillary within and round the City, sent 
thrice to demand the surrender of the Fort from Capt. Leysler 
and his Accomplices, which was thrice denyed, but upon great 
Threatnings, the following Day surrendered to Governor 
Slaughter, who forth-with caused the said Capt. Leysler, with 
some of the chief Malefactors, to be bound over to answer their 
Crimes at the next Supream Court of Judicature, where the 
said Leysler and his pretended Secretary Millborn did appear, 
but refused to plead to the Indictment of the grand Jury, or 
to own the Jurisdiction of that Court; and so after several 
hearings, as Mutes, were found guilty of High Treason and 
Murder, and executed accordingly.^ 

Several of the other Malefactors that pleaded were also 
found Guilty, and particularly one Abraham Governeer for 
Murdering of an Old Man peaceably passing along the Street, 
but were Reprieved by Governour Sloughter, and upon Coll. 
Fletcher's arrival by him set at liberty, upon their Submission 
and promise of good Behaviour. 

^ On Leisler's trial, see below, p. 392. 



370 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

Sir, All what is here set down is True, and can be proved 
and justified by the Men of greatest Probity and best Figure 
amongst us. If I were to give a particular Narrative of all 
the Cruelties and Robberies perpetrated upon their Majesties 
most affectionate Subjects in this Province, they would fill a 
Volumn: There was no need of any Revolution here; there 
were not ten Jacobites in the whole ; they were all well known, 
and the strictest Protestants, and men of best Figure, Reputa- 
tion and Estates were at the Helm, it may plainly be perceived 
by the several steps and measures were followed at that time, 
and by their Letters to the then Earl, now Duke of Shrews- 
bury, and to the Lords, and the Kings Answer thereunto. 
The Copy of which Ajiswer, and some other Papers worthy 
of your perusal, are inclosed. 

So soon as Governour Sloughter arrived, an Assembly was 
called, which upon the 18th of April, 1691, did present an 
Address to his Excellency, signed by their Speaker, together 
with the Resolves of that House, which when you are pleased 
to read, gives the Conclusive Opinion and Judgment of the 
General Assembly of this Province, of all those disorderly 
Proceedings, for which those two have suffered Death, and 
their Sentence was since approved by Her Majesty, of ever 
blessed Memory, in Council. 

Many worthy Protestants in England, and other parts of 
the world, being sincerely devoted to his Majesties Interest, 
have yet notwithstanding (unacquainted with our Circum- 
stances, and not duely apprized of the truth) been more easily 
induced to give credit to the false Glosses and Calumnies of 
byassed and disaffected Persons from this Province. But in 
my Observation, most Gentlemen that have come hither so 
prepossessed, after some time spent here have been thorowly 
convinced of their Mistake, and that those men who suffered 
Death, did not from pure zeal for their Majesties Interest, and 
the Protestant Religion, but being of desperate Fortune, thrust 
themselves into Power, of purpose to make up their wants by 
the Ruin and Plunder of his Majesties Loyal Subjects, and were 
so far engaged in their repeated Crimes, that they were driven 
to that height of Desperation, had not the Providence of Al- 
mighty God prevented it, the whole Province had been Ruined 
and Destroyed. 



1689] LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN 371 

I have put this in writing at your Request, to assist your 
Memory, and leave it to his Excellency Coll. Fletcher, and your 
own Observations, to enlarge upon the Characters of those 
Persons who have been the greatest Sufferers in the time of 
those Disorders, and of their Patience and Moderation since 
your arrival; also, of the Disaffected, and the Causes which 
you have frequently observed to hold this Province in Disquiet 
and Trouble. Notwithstanding all which, and the frequent 
Attachs of the French and Indians upon our Fronteers, this 
Province has not lost one foot of ground during the War, but 
have had considerable Advantages upon the Enemy, which, 
under God, is due to the prudent and steady Conduct and 
great Care and Diligence of Coll. Fletcher, our present Gov- 
ernour. 

You have been an Eye Witness, and have had Time and 
Experience enough to enable you to inform others in England, 
which if you will please to do, I doubt not but it will gain Credit, 
and be an extraordinary piece of Service to this Province. I 
am, 

Sir, 

Your Most Humble Servant. 
New-York, December 31, 
1697. 

The King's Letter. 
William R. 

Trusty and Well-beloved, We greet you well. Whereas We 
have been given to understand by Letters from you, and others the 
principal Inhabitants of Our Province of New- York, of your Dutiful 
Submission to Our Royal Pleasure, and readiness to receive from Us 
such Orders as We should think requisit for settling the Peace and 
good Government of Our Province of New- York, We have thought 
fit hereby to signifie unto you, That We are taking such Resolution 
concerning the same as may tend to the Wellfare of Our Subjects, 
Inhabitants there. And in the mean time We do hereby Authorize 
and Impower you to take upon you the Government of the said 
Province, calling to your Assistance, in the Administration thereof, 
the principal Free-holders and Inhabitants of the same, or so many 
of them as you shall think fit, Willing and Requiring you to do and 
perform all things which to the Place and Office of Our Lieutenant 
Governour and Commander in Chief of Our Province of New- York 
doth or may appertain, as you shall find necessary for Our Service, 



372 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

and the good of Our Subjects, according to the Laws and Customs 
of Our said Province, until further Order from Us. And so We bid 
you Farewell. Given at Our Court at Whitehall the 30th Day of 
July, 1689, in the first Year of Our Reign. 

By His Majesties Command, 

Nottingham.^ 
Was Superscribed, 

To Our Trusty and Well-beloved Francis Nichollson, Esq; Our Lieut. 
Governour and Commander in Chief of Our Province of New- 
York in America; And in his Absence, To such as for the time 
being take care for preserving the Peace and administring the Laws 
in Our said Province of New-York in America. 

^ The Earl of Nottingham was one of the two secretaries of state, the other 
being, as mentioned above, the Earl of Shrewsbury. 



LOYALTY VINDICATED, 1698 



LOYALTY VINDICATED, 1698 

Loyalty Vindicated from the Reflections of a Virulent Pamphlet 
called [A Letter from a Gentleman of New York, concerning 
the troubles which happened in that Province, in the time 
of the late happy Revolution] wherein the Libellous Author 
falsely scandalises those Loyal Gentlemen, who couragiously 
threw off the absolute Slavery that Province then lay under : 
and Declared for His present Majesty, the Protestant Re- 
ligion, and the English Laws. 

Although to name but the Authors of this Pamphlet, to 
give account of the time, manner, and design of its PubHca- 
tion, would sufficiently confute it, and were it all Truth, take 
away its Credit, Yet I shall first by plain proof of Fact and 
Reason, disabuse whom it may have imposed on; and then 
expose the Seducers themselves whose corrupt minds gave 
birth to this Ignis fatuus. 

I know the Authors have triumph'd, that their Libel hath 
not hitherto been answered, but they will have but little cause, 
when they consider it required some time to recover the damp 
and stunn given to honest minds, by the late corrupt Govern- 
ment of New York that publisht it : and some time will always 
be naturally taken up for the exults of joy, that truth and 
honesty will now have their turn of being protected by Au- 
thority. 

It was with great dread known, that the late King James 
was bound in Conscience to indeavour to Damn the English 
Nation to Popery and Slavery, and therefore no wonder (since 
he made such large steps towards it in his Kingdom's) that he 
took a particular care of this Province, of which he was Pro- 
prietor, and at one jump leapt over all the bounds, and Laws 
of English Right and Government; and appointed a Gover- 
nour^ of this Province of New York, who (although he was a 

^ The reference here is to Governor Thomas Dongan, 1682-1688. 

375 



376 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

person of large indowments of mind yet) gave active Obedience 
to his Prince without reserve; and accepted of a Commission 
now on record in the Secretarys Office, giving him power with 
consent of any Seven of his Council to make Laws and to 
raise Taxes (as the French King doth) without consent of the 
People, (for the Council are no body, but whom [he] pleases to 
name, and therefore could represent nothing but the Kings 
pleasure). Hereby the will of the Prince became the Law; 
and the estates of the subjects became the Kings property. 
And this Governour and Council were the tools to inslave 
their Country, who pursuant to their Commission did make 
Laws and Assessed Taxes accordingly, without any Represen- 
tatives of the People, as appears by the Records of the Council 
book. 

This French Government being thus (by Commission) in- 
troduced, it was natural that Papists should be employed in 
the highest Trusts; such as the Council, the Revenue, and the 
Military Forces; and since no Law was left alive to make them 
unqualifyed, therefore this obedient Governour admitted 
major Brockholse and major Baxter into the Council, Matthew 
Plowman to be Collector of the Revenue, and said Baxter and 
Russel to Command Military Forces; all professed Papists to 
assist in making Arbitrary Placats, and forcing obedience to 
them from a Protestant free People. 

This was the condition of New York, the Slavery and 
Popery that it lay under, until the Hand of Heaven sent the 
glorious King William to break those chains, which would 
otherwise have fetter'd all Europe. And these were the 
reasons that moved the Gentlemen concerned in the Revolu- 
tion of New York to be early in shaking off their Tyrants, and 
declaring for their Deliverer. 

These things premised do make way for the answer to the 
bold Assertions of the Libeller, who had the Author Printed 
the Letter ten years before, viz. the time of the Revolution, 
he would have come under the penalty of spreading false News, 
which he in particular knows,^ in Scotland is call'd Leesing, 
and deserves the death call'd the Maiden.^ 

1 An allusion to the Scottish origin of David Jamison. 
^ The Scottish Maiden was a kind of guillotine, with an axe dropping in 
grooves from a height of about ten feet. 



1689] LOYALTY VINDICATED 377 

In the third page which is the first of the Letter, he declares 
that Jacob Leisler and his accomplices committed great dis- 
orders in the Revolution. And was ever Revolution made 
without them ? What, must the noxious humours of the body 
natural be loosned and put a float, and very often with pangs 
and gripes, before the Medicament can officiate the discharge ? 
and must not the body politick suffer a Convulsion to pluck 
up Spiritual and Temporal Tyranny that was taking root in 
it? But I pray explain yourself, was not the Revolution it 
self the greatest disorder that could be given to you and the 
Jacobite party ? and therefore you need not admire nor wonder 
that all those that have a good opinion of the Revolution, have 
so likewise of Jacob Leisler, and other early Instruments of 
it in this Province: Nor is it a wonder that it should be 
credited, that the persons then in Conmiission in New York 
were Jacobites, and persons ill affected to the Revolution 
(which now the Libeller dare not say otherwise than call happy) 
for their very Commissions from King James were expresly 
contrary to Law, and their persons unqualified to serve in any 
Capacity in any English Government and so that as Jacobites 
{i. e. obeyers of King James's Arbitrary Government) and as 
Papists they must naturally be ill affected to the happy Revo- 
lution in England, and implacable Enemies to the well wishers 
thereof in New York. The proof of this appears by the Printed 
account of the State of the Government of New York, attested 
by the Records of Sir Edmund Andross, Coll. Nicholson, 
Matthew Plowman, major Baxter and Bartholomew Russel's 
Commissions; which are Evidence undeniable and point blanck 
contrary to the Testimony of the Libeller, who calls himself 
a personal witness. But the Author was safe at the time of 
Publishing the Letter, for it was when the Province lay under 
the calamity (more then in any other age) of Licensing this 
Letter, which gives Authority for the palliating of Vice with 
false glosses, and of criminating the Actions of the most 
Just and Virtuous arid pious persons, and when Truth and 
Innocency were strip 'd of all defence against the malice, 
falsehood and calumny of Col. Fletcher, and his complying 
Council. 

We are told the Lieutenant Governour and Council were 
Protestants, and perhaps they were; and so were Friend, 



378 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

Perkins, Jefferys, Herbert, Bishop of Chester, and Brian 
Ha3nies the player;^ therefore that is no infaUible Test that 
they were well affected to the Revolution, if they had no other. 
But they resolved Thereupon to suspend all Roman Catho- 
licks from Command and places of trust in the Government. 
Well resolved, though they did not perform it, as the Libeller 
afterwards owns. But what means the word "Thereupon"? 
i. e., King James was fled into France, the Prince of Orange 
was Armed with considerable Forces in England, and by con- 
sent and voice of the Nation declared their Deliverer and King : 
and since King James could not stand by them, and the Ar- 
bitrary Commissions he had given them, and Old England 
would be sure to Command New-York: Thereupon they, etc. 
No thanks to them for their Thereupon. Besides if I am not 
mistaken, the execution of their Illegal Commissions (which 
they held as long as they could) and their fear of exasperations 
they had justly given to the People, by being Voluntary slaves 
to King James his Will, and Authorised to make all imder 
them to be likewise so: (as the Devils would have all men 
Damn'd with themselves.) For these reasons these faint re- 
solves were made and ill executed. But we do not find that 
Thereupon they declared for the Prince of Orange, or the 
Protestant Religion. No, these Gentlemen had submitted so 
intirely to such a blind Obedience to their Prince as (notwith- 
standing their Profession) was never practis'd by any Chris- 
tians, but the Papists; and think to hide their nakedness by 
the fig leaf of turning a single Papist out of the Council, just 
as their Master King James did, when the Prince of Orange 
was landing, the Nations hearts alienated from him, and his 
standing Army likely to run over to the Prince : Thereupon, he 
restored the Charters of Corporations, and Magdalen CoUedge 

1 Sir John Friend, a wealthy brewer of London, was avowedly a Protestant, 
but at the same time a friend and ally of James II. He was executed in 1696. 
Sir William Parkyns, son of a London merchant, was engaged in the plot against 
William III. in 1696. He was executed with Friend in that year. Judge George 
Jeffreys, chief justice of the king's bench under James II., was the well-known 
judge of the Bloody Assizes. Sir Edward Herbert succeeded Jeffreys as chief 
justice of the king's bench. Thomas Cartwright, bishop of Chester, though an 
Anglican, was favorable to Roman Catholicism, upheld the policy of James II., 
and fled with him to France. Brian Haynes was connected with the Popish 
Plot and the trial of Titus Oates. 



1689] LOYALTY VINDICATED 379 

of Oxford/ and declared to call a free Parliament : Just with 
the same good will as these New York Thereuponmen. But 
it is notoriously false and known to be so by the Inhabitants 
of New York, that Thereupon these disbanded Papists forth- 
with left the Province : For Baxter stay'd here several Moneths, 
not knowing whether it was a real Revolution or no ; and Rus- 
sel stay'd and dyed in New York, but Plowman continued 
fix'd in the greatest Trust of Collector of the Revenue, being 
intrusted by the Protestant Lieutenant Governour and Coun- 
cil with the sinews of War in his management, who would be 
sure as a strict Papist to employ it in the service of a Protes- 
tant Revolution, from the same good affection with themselves. 

To proceed, this Libeller names three Dutch Gentlemen of 
their Council, and tells you, that but two of them were most 
affectionate to the Royal house of Orange, although Mr. 
Phillips (I believe) had the same affection with the rest : but 
the Libeller never tells you, that any of them were pleased 
that the Prince of Orange, had rescued from ruine our English 
Laws, Liberties and Protestant Religion, and was become a 
Royal English King : which was but a small reward to Him for 
the Blessing it gave us : he only tells us, that as Dutchmen they 
loved the Royal house of Orange : So I presume the late King 
James doth, being tyed by blood thereto, ^ although he wishes 
him far enough from England. I suppose those Dutch Gentle- 
men will give the Libeller few thanks for his remarks on them. 
He adds, that the said Lieutenant Governour and Council 
Convened to their Assistance all the Justices of the Peace and 
Civil Magistrates, and Military Officers. But they had quite 
forgot the English Constitution of calling the Representatives 
of the People : and whereas several of this Convention were the 
Persons that were pitched upon, and thought fit by the then 
Arbitrary Government to have Commission, Office and Power 
to enslave the subject. No wonder the People did not think 
themselves safe in their hands, to be managed by the major 
Vote of such a Convention. 

Neither was the first thing they ordered, viz. Fortifying the 
City of New York, any wise satisfactory; since it was most 
proper that those persons who gave occasion for a Revolution, 

^ See Macaulay, History, chapter VIII. 

2 Mary, wife of William III., was the daughter of James II. 



380 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

were most probable to make themselves strong to oppose it. 
And therefore Coll. Bayard, made Coll. of the Militia by King 
James, was most liable to obey and execute King James's 
order, and an unsure Security for the Fort; Especially having 
so often declared in Words, and Letters, imder his own hand to 
Mr. West, etc., That those who were in Arms for the Prince 
of Orange were Rebels. But it is absolutely false, that Coll. 
Bayards industry fortifyed the Fort; for Capt. Leisler opened 
the Well, which was closed up ; he it was ordered the Batteries, 
that were made about the Town, he mended the Breast works 
of the Fort, as likewise the Platforms, and Powder Room, all 
which were in a miserable Condition: and these great works 
took up near a Twelve Moneths time, with Vigorous applica- 
tion and industry of the Inhabitants, after Bayard was out 
of the Power of betraying the Fort, which could never have 
been defended in the posture he kept it, with no Well open, 
nor any covering for it, defence or security for their Ammuni- 
tion. Besides when the Militia Forces were on guard in the 
Fort, the Lieutenant Governour in Passion altered their 
Orders given by their Officers, and told them, if they gave 
him any farther trouble he would set the City on fire. 
This prooved by the Depositions of Albort Bosch and Henry 
Coyler. And for their own sakes they appointed and continued 
the Revenue, as being very useful for men of any design: 
which makes nothing for their cause. 

It matters not what Letters were sent home by the Lieu- 
tenant Governour, for it is plain neither Governour nor Council 
would declare for the Prince of Orange, pretending they wanted 
Orders; No, they wanted good will; for without Orders this 
Libeller pretends they turned out Baxter and Russel out of 
Commission. I wonder how they dared to go so far, and no 
farther. But no body but themselves know or care whither 
they wrote or no, for it signifyed nothing, except to excuse 
themselves from declaring till an answer came, and they knew 
who was uppermost. I suppose they had a mind to stay to 
see who got the better in Ireland, before they would declare. 

A Lying building must have a lying foundation, and there- 
fore the Libeller says. That Capt. Leisler, unwilling to pay the 
Duty of his Wines, stirred up the People to Rebellion. The 
case was thus, the Popish Collector Plowman was then con- 



1689] LOYALTY VINDICATED 381 

tinued in Office, and Capt. Leisler did, even with him, make 
entry in the Custom house for his Wines, and ingaged to pay 
the Customs to such as should be legally qualified to receive 
them, which the Papist Plowman was not. 

And now the people being exasperated by the delay of the 
Governour and Council to declare for the Prince, the greater 
body of the Militia with their Officers did Seize on the Fort, 
and did send and demand the Keyes from the Lieutenant 
Governour; and since they had taken the Government on 
them, they did Seize what Publick Moneys they could find; 
and took the Seven hundred Seventy three Pounds from Coll. 
Nicholson, which with great prudence they did Expend for 
the safety and defence of the Revolution : nor were the People 
Drunk or Mad : for no Man, Woman, or Child, was hurt by 
them even in the very Convulsion of changing the Government; 
nay the very Papists then in Office, and others who were justly 
suspected of designs of betraying the Country to King James's 
faithful AUie, the French King, had not a hair hurt, except 
by the fright their own guilt occasioned; and these Revolu- 
tioners must either be very sober or loving in their drink, or 
these Jacobites had never scap'd being Dewitted^ by a suffi- 
ciently provoked People, who had the Power, but more grace 
than to use it. 

False Assertions without proof are sufficiently answered 
by denying them. This northern forehead answers himself: 
for the Libeller says, the people cry'd out that they disowned 
all Government, and in the next line tells you, they proclaimed 
Capt. Leisler their Commander. But I suppose, he gives the 
contradiction as a proof of the Peoples being drunk; to be 
against all manner of Government, and choose a Governour 
in the same breath. 'Tis likewise notoriously false, that no 
other Commissioned Officer was amongst them: for most of 
the Officers of the Militia of the City joyned therein: But 
had it been true, then Capt. Leisler as the only Commission 
Officer ought to Command them; and they were just and sober 
in their choice, as well as prudent in their Trust of so good 
and faithful a Person. But the fact of this was false, for 
Capt Leisler. though instrumental in shaking off the Tyran- 

1 A reference to the murder of the Dutch statesmen Jan and Cornelis De 
Witt by the infuriated populace of The Hague in 1672. 



382 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

nical Government, did not believe he had a Title to govern 
longer than the Peoples Resolutions were known; and there- 
fore, circular Letters were carryed by Coll. Depeyster and 
Capt. De Brayn to the several Counties; whose Freeholders 
chose their Representatives, who being met appointed Capt. 
Leisler Commander in Chief under their Hands and Seals, 
and appointed several to be of his Council, under the name of 
a Committee of Safety to preserve the Publick Peace of the 
Province: who did it so effectually, that those divested of 
the Governing power had no other harm done to their per- 
sons; and the late Lieutenant Governour was permitted to 
withdraw himself whither he pleased. And here I must re- 
mark that he fared much better than Sir Edmund Andross 
at Boston, who was made close Prisoner and sent home to 
England, and yet no man was Executed or attainted there 
for that act of Loyal Violence. 

Boston having proclaimed King William and Queen Mary, 
and New York Fort and Government possess' d by Loyal 
Leisler and his party, and the Lieutenant Governour with- 
drawn out of the Province, then the Libeller saith. That the 
late Council and their Convention of Justices of the Peace 
and Officers, had a great mind to proclaim the King and Queen, 
whom they never had declared for, and we must take his word 
for it: but he owns the Loyalists did proclame them, but 
saith, it was very disorderly. I observe whatever made for 
the Revolution, or against the late King James, is very dis- 
pleasing to the Scribler : For when the People took the Govern- 
ment out of their Arbitrary betrayers hands, he saith, they 
were drunk or mad; and now the proclaiming of the King 
and Queen was very disorderly, in neither of which he gives 
one instance : But thank God, they were proclaimed, and their 
goodness will pardon small disorders which were the effects 
of Loyal Zeal, Although the Jacobites will never forgive 
them for it. Some of which Council and Magistrates went to 
Coll. Bayards house and drank and rejoyced that Leisler had 
done what they never could have the heart to do, nor made 
one step towards. And we may know what kidney these 
drinkers were of, byVhose Wine they drank : For Coll. Bayard 
having been a complying tool all King James's Arbitrary 
Reign, you shall judge of the rest by his opinion of the happy 



1689] LOYALTY VINDICATED 383 

Revolution, in his letter to Mr. West of the 14th of January 
1689/90, Wherein he calls them Philistines, calls Leisler and 
his Loyal party, the Arch Rebel and his hellish crew, wishes 
he had a sufficient number to suppress the Rebels, calls them 
usurpers of the Government, and Sir Edmund Andross, his 
Excellency, and calls his friends Loyal, and the whole tenour 
of the Letter is to keep up King James's title, to admit his Com- 
missions of Government to be of force, to brand all that de- 
clared for the Prince of Orange with the black name of Rebels ; 
by which he owned King James was still in his heart, and had 
he power equal to his will, would have kept him still on the 
Throne, and therefore we may judge of his and his Companies 
joy, on this occasion, and whose Health they drank: which, 
eight years after, they tell us was King William's and Queen 
Mary's. 

His Majesties Proclamation to confirm Sheriffs, Collectors, 
etc. in their Offices being Published, the Convention removed 
Matthew Plowman a Papist from being Collector, but this is 
now when Capt. Leisler had rescued the Government, was 
possess'd of the Fort and had proclaimed King William and 
Queen Mary. Then the Convention (who had done none of 
these things and were angry at those who did) they removed 
a Papist from his Office, about the middle of June, who was 
permitted by them to act above two Moneths from the time 
that the Lieutenant Governour and Council resolved to re- 
move Papists from Offices; which (as the Libeller in the first 
page of his Letter saith) was the beginning of April: they 
kept him in as long as they could, and now to mend the matter, 
they put others in his place of the same principles as to King 
James, of which the famous Bayard aforementioned was the 
Ringleader. And the Libeller brags, that they were the first 
in the Province that took the Oaths to their Majesties, ap- 
pomted by Act of Parliament: It may be true; but it is as 
true, that they were the last and backwardest to assist in the 
Revolution, or declare for the Prince of Orange, which they 
never did; but afterwards pursued to death those that had 
done it. They were indeed most forward to take Oaths, 
when they were to gain by them, and to have the fingring of 
the Revenue. For the carrying of the purse they will deny 
their old Master King James; not out of hatred to him, but 



384 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1689 

love to Money; being bound by solemn Oath to be true to 
their own interest; which Oath binds them closer than any 
Oath of Allegiance. 

These worthy Commissioners of the Revenue sate in the 
Custom-house, but Capt. Leisler with the Inhabitants who had 
possession of the Government and Fort, demanded of them by 
what Authority they pretended to act; who refusing to give 
Capt. Leisler any Account they offered to turn him out of the 
Custom-house by force; on which tumult (made by three 
Jacobites) a guard of Inhabitants from the Fort came to defend 
their Captain. And the People in the Streets were so enraged 
at Coll. Bayard (who they knew was as inveterate as any 
Papist against the Revolution) that they certainly had tore 
him to pieces, had not the good temper of Capt. Leisler been 
his protector, who was the only person capable of saving him 
in that extremity, and favored his escape, and let him live to 
have afterwards a hand in the Murdering his deliverer: So 
that the Violence of Armed men and naked Swords, beat- 
ing the Commissioners from the Custom-house, was very 
modestly done, for no man was hurt, not so much as a skin 
broke of those who deserved the halter; but they are still 
alive ; some of them to watch another occasion to betray their 
Country, when they can get a Popish King of England to 
assist them. 

Captain Leisler finding several Papists and false Protes- 
tants in the Town, like a prudent Officer kept good guards, sent 
parties to prevent any Conspiracy they might make to resume 
the Government, and to preserve the Peace, which was dayly 
attempted to be broke by declaring for King James, and his 
Governour Sir Edmund Andross, and denying the Authority 
of the People, and Capt. Leisler intrusted by them, on which it 
was wisely done of Capt. Leisler to secure in the Fort those 
whom he found so troublesome to the publick Peace, and as 
the heads of them he Imprisoned the afore-mentioned famous 
Coll. Bayard and Mr. Nichols, but without barbarity they 
were confined, and not in a nasty Goal, but in handsome 
lodgings, such as now are thought proper for the Captain of 
the Guard, the Store keeper and the Secretary of the Province 
to lodge and keep Office in. It is true that Coll. Bayard was 
put in Irons, as he well deserved for his aversion to the Revo- 



1689] LOYALTY VINDICATED 385 

lution, disturbing the Peace, and attacking Capt. Leisler (then 
Commander in Chief) in the open Street, as appears by sev- 
eral credible Oaths. Nor could it be safe to admit such fire 
brands to Bail ; and therefore they were kept close from doing 
mischief, which is the part of all good Governments to do, 
and was most necessary in this Revolution. 

Captain Leisler with the Committee of safety (appointed 
by the Representatives of the Freeholders of the several Coun- 
ties of the Province) having published their Declaration for the 
Prince of Orange, the Protestant ReHgion, and the English 
Laws and Liberties, they thought it prudent to discriminate 
the Well affected from the Enemy, and therefore Summoned 
all the Inhabitants of the City to the Fort, to sign their names 
to such a Declaration as owned the Authority of the Prince of 
Orange. And the refusers must justly by him and all man- 
kind be deemed Enemies to the Revolution, to His Majesty, 
and their Country. And is this a crime to know the Sheep 
from the Goats, or to take all Reasonable methods for the 
safety of the then Government: but the Libeller is angry at 
every prudent step was taken, nor is he satisfyed, although 
it is above Seven years since he was gorg'd with their innocent 
blood which he had a hand in shedding. 

It is notoriously false that Capt. Leisler opposed the Col- 
lecting of the Revenue; indeed he was not willing a Papist 
should nm away with our Protestant Kings Money, nor did 
he think it safe in Bayards, etc. hands. But the Committee 
of safety (and not Capt. Leisler) appointed Mr. De Lanoy 
(in whom they durst confide) to that trust, who received no 
Customs until December following, when his Majesties orders 
arrived; till then he took only notes from the Merchants to 
pay the Customs when demanded. And 'tis well known that 
Mr. DeLanoy gave a fair and true Accompt of his Receipts 
and payments of the Customs to Governor Slaughter : whereby 
it appears he had expended five hundred Pounds of his own 
Money above the Money of the Revenue, for the Kings Ser- 
vice and the support of the Revolution; which Money is not 
repaid him to this day through the iniquity of some Jacobites 
afore-mentioned, who crept into power, and who have thereby 
gratifyed their revenge on men of greater sense and Loyalty 
than themselves. 



386 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1690 

On the tenth of December one Riggs brought his Majesties 
Letters which were dehvered to Capt. Leisler, as they ought 
according to their direction; for Coll. Nicholson (to whom 
they were first directed) had withdrawn himself out of the 
Province, and in his absence the Letters were directed to such 
as for the time being took care for the preservation of the 
Peace and Administring the laws; which was none other but 
Capt. Leisler, who was appointed thereto by the Representa- 
tives of the Freeholders of the several Countyes of the Province 
and had the Command of the Fort ; nor could those who called 
themselves of the Council be intituled thereto, for they were 
the Persons that were made use of in the late Arbitrary and 
Tyrannical Government, to the over-turning of all Laws, and 
Civil Rights, and who gave Occasion for the Revolution in 
New York, and did never declare for the Prince of Orange. 

These Letters from His Majesty fully confirming Capt. 
Leisler in the Government, whereto he was chosen by the Peo- 
ple's Representatives, he indeavoured to execute his trust 
faithfully, and on such an Emergency it was the greatest wis- 
dom and prudence to find Money to support the Government, 
which he did as regularly as the time would permit, by and 
with the consent of the General Assembly of the Province 
fairly chosen by the Freeholders; which this seducer falsely 
insinuates were only Selected and Appointed by Capt. Leisler. 
And by and with their advice and consent Taxes were raised 
and properly applyed. And 'tis observable the Libeller tells 
us, that Capt. Leisler applyed these Sums to his own private 
use, and yet the very next words tells us, it was to maintain 
said disorders, allowing private men Eighteen Pence per day : 
by disorders he means the Government reposed by the People 
and confirmed by King William in Capt. Leisler which had 
disordered and routed the former Slavery the People lay under; 
for it was disorder to none but Papists and Jacobites. And 
the Eighteen pence a day was for the private use of the private 
men to whom it was paid, for their subsistence in defending 
the Government : and their defence was indeed of private use 
to Capt. Leisler, as comprehended in the Publick general good 
thereof : But the Revenue was not sufficient to defray so great 
a charge, had not Capt. Leisler expended great Sums out of 
his own private Estate, as others concerned with him likewise 



1690] LOYALTY VINDICATED 387 

did, for which he was repayed with a barbarous Death, through 
the means of men who will never venture their Lives or Estates 
to serve their Prince, Country, or Protestant Rehgion. 

Nor could Coll. Bayard and Mr. Nichols complain of their 
aforementioned confinement in the Fort, since they would fly 
in the face of Government, and give such vent to their in- 
venomed passions as appears by the Record of their Com- 
mittment, and Coll. Bayards confession in his Petition to 
Capt. Leisler. 

But it is point blanck a lye, nor was it ever, or can be 
proved that Capt. Leisler gave directions to any man to plun- 
der Coll. Bayards house, nor was any thing of that sort done 
by his order to any house, but Commands given to the con- 
trary, and the Souldiers were compelled to restore what could 
be made appear they had forcibly taken from any man. Even 
so small a matter as a Hat taken out of the house of Mr. Lam- 
bert, was restored to him.^ 

Coll. Cortland and others might leave their houses and 
families, but they would have had no occasion for so doing 
had they peaceably and quietly minded their own affairs and 
submitted to the Government; for all such had no manner of 
disturbance given them, but were protected. 

The Protestant Ministers, the Libeller saith, could not 
scape Capt. Leislers Malice and Cruelty: I am afraid those 
Ministers he mentioned, were Popish Trumpets, to Preach 
up the damn'd Doctrins of Passive Obedience and Non Re- 
sistance, and to noise in our Ears with their accursed breath, 
that we ought patiently to hold our Protestant Throats to be 
cut by the Command of a Popish King: and when Capt. 
Leisler with his friends had taken hold of that wonderful De- 
liverance offered immediately from God to Redeem His People 
from Slavery upon Earth, and Popish Damnation in Hell, 
to have false Priests of Baal get up, and use their wicked 
Eloquence to make the People believe a lye, even in the house 
of the God of Truth, and from the Pulpit, to tell these Captains 

1 Dennis Lambert was one of those who took part in the so-called assault 
upon Leisler, June 6, 1690. A witness deposed that he saw "Lt Govr Jacob 
Leisler encompassed by several persons and saw Dennis Lambert have hold of 
the sd Lieut. Govrs sword by the hilt . . . and that Robert Alison lifted up his 
cane (intended as the Dept thought) to strike the sd Lt Govr" (N. Y. Col. Docs., 

in. 741). 



388 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1690 

of our Temporal Salvation to their faces, that being faithful 
to their God, their Country, and their Laws, in the defence of 
the Holy Protestant Religion, and the Rights and Liberties 
of English men, and their thankful declaring for the most 
glorious Prince upon Earth their Deliverer: was the blackest 
of Treason and Rebellion. Such Apostasy and base Treachery 
hath deserved, and often met with severer rebukes than the 
friendly Verbal admonition given by Capt. Leisler to the blind 
Seer, and had nothing of the Malice and Cruelty in it of the 
Libeller, who wrote so false a Pamphlet: and so the other 
time-serving Priests (who were Protestants shooing horns to 
draw on Popery) might have been more quiet, and left the 
result of the Revolution to Divine Providence, and not pass 
such hard Censures as to attaint blood and accuse of Rebellion 
all that would accept of Gods deliverance from the two great- 
est plagues of mankind, Popery and Slavery. But I hope 
they have repented and will be saved, otherwise whilst they 
Preach to others they themselves will be cast away. 

'Tis true Capt. Leisler sent to the Merchants of the Town 
to supply the Garrison with Provisions and other necessaries, 
and sent without distinction to all People who had Stores;^ 
otherwise the Garrison might have perished : but he honestly 
gave them Credit in the Kings Books, and they have since 
(for the greatest part) been satisfyed; and Capt. Leisler (as 
he ought) did order forcibly to break their Ware-houses open, 
where they were refractory, and refused on so great Emergency 
to afford support to the Government; but exact Accompts 
were kept of all such goods, and Entries made in Books kept 
for that purpose; so that it was not plunder, (as the Libeller 
falsely calls it) but they were to be satisfyed, and paid for the 
same. And I believe it was never known in the Memory of 
man, that ever a Revolution, or change of Government, was 
more regular: or where Military power would not force 
Victuals where it was denyed them, when they wanted it: 
and therefore it was for the special Service of King William 
and Queen Mary, to keep alive those that were the only per- 
sons in that Province who declared early for Them, and owned 
Their Authority. Nor can any proof upon Earth be brought 

1 Leisler seized large quantities of pork and other provisions for which claims 
were afterward presented to the Sloughter government. Bellomont passed an act 
paying for them, but the Privy Council disallowed it {Ads, Colonial, VI. 19-20). 



1690] LOYALTY VINDICATED 389 

(except such as the Libeller) that one Farthings Value of goods 
was ever converted to the private use of Capt. Leisler, or 
Transported by him to the West Indies, but the imposture 
of the whole book depends on such positive falsehoods. 

The Accompt of Thirteen Thousand nine hundred fifty 
nine Pounds of damages done the Province is made up by the 
Libeller himself; for no man living, of truth, hath ever demon- 
strated that Capt. Leisler or his friends ever made pillage of any 
man's Estate, but I beheve the Libeller reckons that he and his 
Jacobite party had so much damage by the Revolution, which 
they might Arbitrarily have extorted from the King's good 
Subjects, if it had not happened. Good damages! which I 
am glad of with all my heart. At this rate pray what damages 
had the Popish Clergy of England and Ireland, by King 
Williams hindering their being restored to Abbys, Monasterys, 
and Peter Pence; but it is better that the Jacobites should 
suffer damage of their Estates and Lives too, than an English 
Protestant People should have the damage of loosing their 
Laws and Religion, their Properties and their Souls. And as 
for Coll. Willets losses, which the Libeller magnifies, he could 
not put a particular Value on them, they were so small. Had 
they been considerable he would since have made a particular 
complaint, to have reparation, which he never did, nor had 
occasion for; but had he been ruined he would not have been 
pittyed by good men, because he so far forgot that he was an 
English man and Protestant, that he Executed an Illegal Com- 
mission,^ and raised Forces to destroy all those that declared 
for our Deliverer, that we might return to our Vomit, which 
was a Dog trick in him. 

And thus the Libeller expatiates on Capt. Leislers Arbi- 
trary proceedings over his Majesties Subjects, Persons and 
Estates, against the fundamental Laws of the Land; but he 
should have considered that all the fundamental Laws of the 
Land were wholly subverted and trampled upon by the Hell- 
ish, Popish, Arbitrary Government, Established by King 
James's Commission; so that Capt. Leisler found no funda- 
mental Laws to transgress ; and was forced in discharge of his 

^ Reference is here made to Willett's acceptance of an order from Ingoldesby 
to raise troops on Long Island in January, 1691. Thomas Clark, Daniel White- 
head, and others accepted similar commissions. 



390 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

trust from the People, and by and with the consent of those 
appointed by their Representatives, to use these violent 
methods which Heaven gave him the power to make use of 
to restore those fundamental Laws, which were abolished by 
tools of the same temper with the Libeller. 

Major Ingoldsby, a Captain of a foot Company, arrives 
near two years after, saith the Libeller, "And with several 
Gentlemen of the Council sends to Capt. Leisler, that for the 
preservation of the Peace he might continue to command in 
the Fort, imtil Coll. Slaughter's Arrival, and only desired that 
major Ingoldesby and the Kings Souldiers might be permitted 
to quarter, and refresh themselves in the City : but instead of 
complying, he in passion told Mr. Brooke, on his acquainting 
him, that Mr. Phillips, Coll. Bayard, Coll. Cortland were of 
the Council, that they were Papist Dogs, and if the King 
should send Three Thousand of them, he would cut them off; 
and without cause Proclaimed open War; on which said major 
Ingoldesby perswaded several of the Inhabitants to joyn with 
him merely for self preservation. On which several great and 
small Shot from the Fort killed and wounded several of His 
Majesties good Subjects, who made no opposition." 

This whole Paragraph I shall shew to be the greatest com- 
plication of Iniquity, and fit to be the production of a Monster 
begat by an Incubus on a Scotch Witch, who had kindled his 
malice against Truth from the flames he put to the holy Bible,^ 
thereby to become the Adopted Son of the father of Lyes. 

For major Ingoldesby, having no Commission, nor Au- 
thority to Command, on his Arrival took on him the Title 
of Commander in Chief, usurp'd a shew of Government, call- 
ing a Council, and Issuing peremptory orders, as appears by 
the Records of the Council Book :^ nay, quite contrary to the 

1 See below, p. 398. 

2 Professor Channing thinks that Ingoldesby had a commission authorizing 
him to exercise supreme power as commander-in-chief, but whether from the king 
or by deputation from Sloughter he does not say. It is difficult to believe that 
if Ingoldesby had had such a commission, he would have failed to show it to Leis- 
ler. I have been unable to find any trace of a royal commission, even of the cus- 
tomary sign manual, appointing Ingoldesby lieutenant-governor; whereas Gov- 
ernor Sloughter in his letter to Lord Nottingham states that the vessels bearing 
Ingoldesby and the soldiers parted from him at sea "without any direction or 
allowance." There seems to be no doubt but that Ingoldesby had nothing more 
than his captain's commission, as the text says. 



1691] LOYALTY VINDICATED 391 

Romantick Account of the Libeller, he sent a demand under 
his own hand, which I have seen, wherein he acknowledges 
Capt. Leislers offer to him of his own Houses in the City for 
the Accommodation of himself and Officers, and to appoint 
fit Quarters for the Souldiers; which major Ingoldesby under 
his hand denyes to accept of, saying, he demanded the Fort 
from him, which unless Capt. Leisler would deliver up to him, 
he would esteem him as an Enemy to King William and Queen 
Mary. I have likewise seen Capt. Leislers Letter to Major 
Ingoldesby, full of Civility and true Reason, wherein he ac- 
quaints him, that he held the Fort and Commanded by Virtue 
of a trust reposed in him by the People, and confirmed by His 
Majesty, and assuring him, that if he had any Commission 
from His Majesty, or any Instruction or Order from Coll. 
Slaughter appointed Governour of the Province, on his pro- 
ducing it, The Fort should be immediately delivered to him, 
but desired to be excused from resigning his trust, till he found 
one qualifyed and authorized to receive it from him. But this 
was not satisfaction to major Ingoldesby, who was prevailed 
with to take the Government on him in opposition to Capt. 
Leisler, and as Governour in Chief (although never impowered 
by King or People) he issues orders to the several Counties 
to be ready to attend and assist in opposing Leisler and his 
party with Arms; which was the proclaiming open War; and 
pursuant thereto he sends his Rounds in the night, and ordered 
or permitted his Rounds at all hours to pass the guards and 
centrys on the Walls of the Fort, and not to make answer, 
but by reproachful Language, when challenged by them, in 
order to provoke the drawing of blood, and ingaging the People 
in a Civil War: and farther, major Ingoldesby ordered all 
the men under his Command to wear Marks^ on their Arms, 
to distinguish them from those who joyned with Capt. Leisler. 

During this Revolution and Civil War, I am told not 
above two persons were killed,^ which happiness attended the 
moderate temper of Capt. Leisler and the Committee of 
Safety, who could not be raised to punish the Insolence of 
the Tory party, suitable to what they gave just occasion for. 

Soon after, viz. in March, about a Month or five Weeks 

^The "Marks" were white scarfs tied around their left arms. 
* One of those killed was Lieutenant Patrick Macgregory. 



392 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

after major Ingoldesby's usurpation/ Coll. Slaughter Arrived, 
who Summoned the Fort late at night, and, contrary to the 
Libellers assertion, it was never denyed to be delivered : but 
the delivery suspended till next Morning, it not being proper 
(according to Military Rules) to deliver a Fort in the night, 
and then it was Surrendered by Capt. Leisler, who waiting 
on the Captain General Coll. Slaughter, instead of thanks for 
the faithful Service he had done His Majesty in defending the 
Fort and Province from the French (our professed Enemies) 
and the Treachery of Papists and Jacobites amongst ourselves, 
was immediately by his order Seized with Mr. Milboum, and 
others of the Loyal party, and bound over to answer at the 
next Supream Court of Judicature; where Capt. Leisler and 
Mr. Milboum pleaded to the Jurisdiction of the Court, That 
whereas he was in possession of the Government by the choice 
of the People, and confirmed in it by the Kings Majesties 
Letters, that he was not bound by Law to answer for his Mai 
Administration in Government, to any Court or Authority, 
but to His Majesty, who had intrusted him: but this was 
overruled by the Violence of the Court, without reason or 
Law, and as Mutes they were found guilty of High Treason 
and Murder; and although a Reprieve was granted them by 
Coll. Slaughter, untill His Majesties pleasure should be known 
in the Matter : yet the Violence of the Jacobite party (of which 
sort were most of Capt. Leislers Judges and Officers of the 
Court) ^ was such that they gave no rest to Coll. Slaughter, 
untill by their Importunity they prevailed with him to sign 
the Dead Warrant. And they were Executed accordingly. 
So that the representation of the matter, with an account of 
their Reprieve, reached His Majesty at the same time with 
the account of their Execution and Death. So fell Capt. 
Leisler and Mr. Milboum, men of known Integrity, Honesty 

1 The period of Ingoldesby's "usurpation" was from January 29 to March 
19, 1691. 

^ Joseph Dudley presided at the trial. The other justices were "Thomas 
Johnson, Esqre, Sr. Robert Robinson, Knt, Chidley Brooke, William Smith, 
William Pinhorne, John Laurence, Esqrs, Capt. Jasper Hickes, Maj. Richard 
Ingoldesby, Col. John Young, and Capt. Isaac Arnold," constituting the court 
of oyer and terminer commissioned by Slough ter, March 26, 1691. The trial 
began on March 31 and continued on the 1st, 6th, 8th, and 15th of April. 
Ten prisoners were tried, each separately, and each was allowed counsel. The 



1691] LOYALTY VINDICATED 393 

and Loyalty, and by a pretended course of Law, contrary to 
all Law, condemned, where their Judges were most of them 
violent Enemies of the happy Revolution, and therefore re- 
solved to revenge themselves on these Gentlemen who were 
the most Early and Zealous Instruments of it; and who had 
first expended great part of their Estates, and then suffered 
Martyrdom for King William and Queen Mary, their Religion 
and Laws. The proofs and papers referred to in this account 
remain in the hands of Mr. Jacob Leisler, only son of Capt. 
Jacob Leisler, the Martyr to Jacobite Revenge. The proof 
that Capt. Leisler was legally Govemour of New York, That 
major Ingoldesby was but a bear Captain of Foot, and had no 
other command in that Province, nor authority to demand 
the Fort from Capt. Leisler; The proof that Capt. Leisler did 
as a good Subject deliver the Fort to Coll. Slaughter upon 
demand, and his Justification, is immediately expressed in the 
Act of Parliament of England which reverses their Attainders, 
and restores their Families in Blood and Estate. 

So that this is the full and true account of this Tragedy: 
New York lay under the Curse of an absolute Gover ment 
by King James's Commission to Sir Edmund Andros; the 
people took courage on the first News of the Revolution in 
England, and shook off the Oppressors, and declared for the 
Prince of Orange; the Lieutenant Governor, the Council, and 
Justices of the Peace, which met and call'd themselves a Con- 
vention (being Officers constituted by King James) would not 
declare for the Prince of Orange; Wherefore the people did 
not think themselves safe in their hands, but Seized upon the 
Fort, and chose Capt. Leisler Commander of the Fort until 
Circular Letters had procured a return of Representatives of 
the Free holders of the several Counties of the Province, who 
on their meeting making a Declaration for His present Majesty, 
did under their Hands and Seals constitute Capt. Leisler Com- 

petit jury, selected from a panel of forty-eight names, acquitted two, Delanoy 
and Edsall, and found eight guilty, Leisler, Milborne, Gouverneur, Beekman, 
Coerten, Williams, Vermilye, and Brasier. Leisler and Milborne refused to 
plead and were condemned as mutes. On the 17th the eight were sentenced to 
death. Leisler and Milborne were hanged on May 16, Sloughter having signed 
the death-warrant, after the consent of council and assembly, which convened 
on April 9, had been obtained. The other six were returned to prison, but re- 
leased the next year by order in council, dated May 13, 1692. 



394 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1691 

mander in Chief until the Kings pleasure should be known; 
and likewise appointed him a Council, by the name of a Com- 
mittee of Safety. And in these Persons the Government was 
lodged, who proceeded to support themselves by the most 
moderate methods could be devised. 

The Lieutenant Governour hereupon withdraws out of the 
Province, major Ingoldsby Arrives with Authority over none 
but his Foot Company, and yet demands the Fort, which Capt. 
Leisler durst not deliver to him without betraying his Trust 
both to the King and People; major Ingoldsby usurps the 
Title of Commander in Chief, he Issues Orders and Warrants 
to the People to rise in Arms to assist him to wrest the Fort 
out of Capt. Leislers hands, and provokes Capt. Leislers men 
in the Fort to Acts of hostility, by which means one or two 
men were accidentally killed. Coll. Slaughter Arrives, de- 
mands the Fort, which was surrendered to him immediately; 
the Persons of Capt. Leisler and Mr, Milboum are Seiz'd, and 
soon after brought to Tryall ; their plea to the Jurisdiction of 
the Court (which could not by Law try them for Mai Admin- 
istration in Government) violently over ruled, and they Con- 
demned as Mutes, for High Treason and Murder; they were 
Reprieved until His Majesties pleasure should be known; and 
notwithstanding the Reprieve, the Warrant of Execution 
Signed, and they Executed. 

But the Enemies to King William, and consequently to 
these Gentlemen, had not sufficiently gratified their malice, 
by these mens innocent blood: but they labour in England 
to get a justification for themselves, and a confirmation 
that the said unjust Judgment was according to Law; and 
when His Majesty was in Flanders and several Ministers 
of State were in place and trust in the Committee of Trade, 
which His Majesty hath since thought fit to remove from His 
Council and their Offices, a report was obtained from the Com- 
mittee of Trade affirming that these Loyalists were Condemned 
and Executed according to Law.^ But however the said 
Committee represented their Sons as fit objects of Her Majes- 
ties mercy, to be restored to their Fathers Estates; which 

^ The order in council of March 11, 1692, based on the report of the Lords 
of Trade of the same date, declared that Leisler and Milborne "were con- 
demned and have suffered according to law." 



1695] LOYALTY VINDICATED 395 

Her Majesty was graciously pleased to grant. And these 
malignant Confederates so far prevailed with the Assembly 
of New York to compliment and flatter their new Governour, 
Coll. Slaughter, as to pass several Votes against the whole 
proceedings of the happy Revolution, and to excuse the bar- 
barous Severity of the Illegal Condemnation and bloody Exe- 
cution which he had ordered. And this was the State of the 
Case until the Parliament of England took the matter into 
their Consideration, and the honorable the House of Commons 
in the Sixth and Seventh year of His present Majesties Reign 
appointed a Committee to examine all parties in relation to 
Capt. Leislers Execution, where they were heard by their 
Council at Law, and where Mr. Dudley (who formerly applyed 
to get Money by Magistracy and Government in New Eng- 
land, and set up for a Judge in matters of Blood in the Tryal 
of Capt. Leisler at New York) was heard to make his defence, 
where his Cobb-Webb Eloquence was too thin to put a vail 
over so black an Action, as created horrour in the minds of 
that Honorable and Numerous Committee; who reported the 
matter fully to the House, and thereupon an Act of Parlia- 
ment passed the Royal Assent, wherein His Majesty, the Lords, 
and Commons of England do recite the Legality of Capt. 
Leislers Authority, and justifie his proceedings in the Govern- 
ment, and more especially his refusing to deliver the Fort 
to major Ingoldesby, being the Fact for which he was Con- 
demned; and do absolutely reverse the Attainders and re- 
store the Blood and Estates of Capt. Leisler, and those per- 
sons Condemned and Executed in New York; which Act of 
Parliament is Printed at the end of this Treatise.^ 

And now after all, it being about Eight years since these 
men dyed, when the Grave and Time should have so buryed 
the Persons and Memories of these good, but unfortunate 
Persons, that no Revenge should have room to desire a farther 

^ The act of Parliament reversing the decree of the court of oyer and ter- 
miner and removing the attainder was passed in 1695 (6-7 William III., c. 30, 
private acts). By this act "the several convictions, judgments, and attainders" 
were "repealed, reversed, and declared null and void." Chalmers tells us that 
one of the agents for Massachusetts, Constantine Phipps, framed the bill, and 
we know that the other agent, Sir Henry Ashurst, was chairman of the com- 
mittee that reported it favorably to the Jf.ouse. Bellomont, the later pro-Leis- 
lerian governor of New York, was also one of the committee. 



396 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1695 

gratification, and when the Annimosities between those of a 
Dutch extraction (who are the most numerous, Loyal and 
Sober Subjects of that Province) and the few EngHsh (who were 
most averse and backward in the Revolution, but violent and 
bloody in the Execution of Capt. Leisler, as well as the most 
dissolute in their Morals) in this Province, had time to cool, 
and might by a good Government have been wholly heal'd. 
After all, I say, to have this fire again blown up, to open these 
Wounds and to open the Graves of the Dead, to disturb the 
Living, was such an artifice of the Devil as must give a more 
than usual abhorrence in good minds; which leads me to give 
an account of the Occasion, the time, manner, and design of the 
Publication of this fire brand call'd A Letter, and withall take 
some notice of the supposed author. 

It is evident in New York, and will soon be made appear 
to His Majesty, that the late Government of New York under 
the Administration of Coll. Fletcher^ was a perfect sink of 
Corruption. And although he was exalted to that Govern- 
ment from a poor mean refugee of Ireland ; yet he soon forgot 
the hand that raised him, and to satisfy his Soul, his Idol 
Gain, he made a fast friendship with the few Papists, Jacobites, 
and dissolute English of New York, who had opposed the Revo- 
lution and revenged themselves on Capt. Leisler; and who, to 
be supported in their hatred to the Loyal Williamites, and 
connived at in their open breach of all the Acts of Trade, found 
great advantage to reward Coll. Fletcher's friendship by Pres- 
ents from themselves, and gifts from Pirates; and complyed 
with him, and consented to all things proposed to them by 
him; to the squandering of the Kings Revenue and (to the 
great dishonour of the King) destroying all conveniences of a 
Succeeding Governour; and disposing of all the Lands in the 
Province, that not one Inch is left to be given in reward to any 
who may by their Services to His Majesty deserve, or to in- 
courage new Settlers, and that in such quantities as will wholly 
make it impossible ever to People the Province; giving to 
one man Seventy Miles in length, and to several Fifty, Forty 
and Thirty Miles in length, and several Miles in breadth; 
with many other unjust, gross Mai Administrations. 

1 The years 1692-1698, when Fletcher was governor, were a period of anti- 
Leislerian supremacy. 



1697] LOYALTY VINDICATED 397 

On this bottom ColL Fletcher joyned in the mortal hatred 
to the lovers of the Loyal Leisler ; and when several condemned 
to dye for their motions in that Revolution were ordered by 
Her gracious Majesty of Sacred Memory to be discharged, 
Coll. Fletcher did it as an act of grace of his own, and told 
them that although he released them yet he could call for them 
when he pleased, and hang them. And some time after told 
them. That they dealt worse by him than the Lepers cleansed 
by our Saviour, some of which returned to thank him, but none 
of them ever did, meaning none of them had given him a 
wicked Bribe or reward which he was used to receive. These 
Truths Mr. Beekman and Mr. Gouverneur will attest. Coll. 
Fletcher likewise paid that disregard to the Act of Parliament 
of England, (Reversing the Attainders and restoring Capt. 
Leisler and others condemned in Blood and Estate) that he 
refused the Widow Leisler to be repossessed of her Estate; 
nor had she that justice done her, during Coll. Fletchers 
Government, nor untill my Lord Bellomont granted her a 
Writ of Possession; which was a year and half after she was 
Entituled to it by Act of Parliament in England, Reprinted at 
New York. He likewise wholly discouraged the generality 
of those who were active in the Revolution, putting few or 
none of them into Office, or Employment, and wholly adhering 
to those that gratifyed his Vanity, Pride, and Covetousness. 
For which in return he gave them countenance in all matters, 
as well as connivance at their unlawful Trade. 

His Majesty having appointed the Earl of Bellomont 
Governour of New York (whose great Honour and Justice 
Coll. Fletcher both knew and dreaded) some considerable time 
passed between his Patents being passed, and his beginning 
his Voyage, which Coll. Fletcher took the advantage of, 
therein to contrive methods so to divide the People of the 
Government that in Publick disorder he himself might escape 
having strict Scrutiny made into the Corruptions of his Gov- 
ernment ; he therefore not satisfyed with crushing the Loyalists, 
during his Government, was resolved to assist the Publishing 
this Libel, which might give such an Account of the Revolu- 
tion of New York, as should Exasperate to the highest degree 
all that were concern'd in it, and at the same time assured his 
Jacobite party, that it was necessary such a book should be 



398 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1697 

Licensed, to possess the strangers who came with my Lord, 
with such falsehoods as were useful to their party; my Lord 
being, as he feared, inclined to favour whoever was well in- 
clined to the Loyalty of Leisler. So that, as is supposed, one 
Mr. Jamison^ was employed to frame this Libel, who was Clerk 
of the bloody Court that Condemned Leisler; a person most 
in the graces of Coll. Fletcher, who was in Scotland condemned 
to dye for Atheism and Burning the Bible, and was banished to 
New York; where he was by Contribution freed from being a 
Servant, and permitted to teach School, and being somewhat 
a Scholar, and having good natural sense, made the use of his 
wicked parts to teach Blasphemy, and Atheism, and to ridi- 
cule Sober Religion, till he got a Reputation amongst the 
dissolute Church of England men, whose Liturgie he then 
would and still doth gabble over with great seeming devotion 
and uplifted eyes a few hours after he had been Blaspheming 
Christianity; but his form of saying the Common Prayer 
sufficiently recommended him to Coll. Fletcher, so that the 
Secretary Clarkson^ was prevailed on to make him his Deputy 
for a Hundred Pounds a year Rent; and Coll. Fletcher gave 
him Fifty Pounds per Annum Salary out of the Kings Revenue 
as Clerk of the Council, and through all his Government made 
use of his vile Service, and afterwards recommended him to the 
Earl of Bellomont, as one of the honestest men in the Govern- 
ment; although at the same time he knew the said Jamison 
was actually marryed to two Wives then living. This man so 
qualifyed was intrusted to do this piece of Service, but 'tis 
believed the aforementioned Coll. Bayard gave him some as- 
sistance in furnishing him with some Materials, and without 
doubt, according to orders, no falsehood was balk'd that could 
serve the cause, and so this Libel was hammered out, in which 
there is scarce a Paragraph, but what contains one or more 
Scurrilous Untruths, which are delivered with an Highland 

^ David Jamison was a Scotsman who had come over as a redemptioner in 
1685. He became the master of a Latin school and afterward studied law and 
became clerk of the council under Governor Fletcher. He was removed from 
office by Bellomont. 

2 Matthew Clarkson went to England with Joost Stoll in August, 1689, but 
took no part in StoU's mission. He became secretary of the province under 
Fletcher and was removed from office by Bellomont. 



1697] LOYALTY VINDICATED 399 

modesty and peremptorily affirmed to be truth without any 
proof, on purpose to Vilify the Transactions of the Revolution, 
and Massacre over again the Reputation of those, whose per- 
sons were murdered Eight years before for their Loyalty, and 
withal [with all] the Villany proper to persons who hate the 
present Government are added to this Account some Servile 
Votes of the Assembly of New York made to flatter their new 
Governour Coll. Slaughter, who signed these Loyalists War- 
rant for Execution, and likewise is Printed an order or report 
(God knows how obtained) of the Committee of Trade for 
Justifjdng the said Condemnation and Execution. But this 
Libeller, contrary to his duty to truth, allegiance to His 
Majesty, and respect to Laws (for he could not hide his Vir- 
ulency to the present Government) takes no notice of the Act 
of Parliament of England Reversing the Attainders of these 
Condemned Gentlemen, which gives the Lye to his whole 
Libel, Justifies Capt. Leisler as Lawful Governour of New 
York, and in full effect expresses that he was basely Murdered, 
contrary to all Law and Reason, for doing his duty as His 
Majesties Lawful Governour of New York; which is the sence 
of the words of the said Act. But the Libeller did as he was 
ordered, and the book raised the flame it was designed to raise, 
and was carryed to the Press by Mr. Brook, who although a 
Refugee from Ireland and preferred by King William to be 
Collector and Receiver General of the Customes and Revenue 
of New York, and a new-comer thither, took upon him to be 
one of the bloody Judges of this Royalist; but is since for 
betraying his said Trust and neglect of his duty suspended 
from all his Employs, even that of being Judge, and one of the 
Council, by the Right Honorable the Earl of Bellomont, who 
was his Security for his Collectors place to the Commissioners 
of the Customs of England, but could not bear his treachery 
to that Trust which he himself had been Instrumental to ad- 
vance him to. Ajid Mr. Wilson,^ late Sheriff of New York, 
a hot headed despicable fellow, who to serve the Tory party, 
contrary to his Oath, made a most false Return of Assembly 
men to serve for the Coimties of New York and Orange in 
the last Assembly. For which palpable breach of his Oath 

1 Ebenezer Willson, captain, merchant, and sheriff of New York, was also 
removed by Bellomont. 



400 NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS [1697 

and Trust, His Excellency the Earl of Bellomont with consent 
of the Council suspended him from being Sheriff of New York. 
But when this Libel was so midwived to the Press by the 
Kings Collector^ (who was likewise one of the Council) and 
this foresworn Sheriff, Then Coll. Fletcher calls the Council 
where 'tis proposed (as appears by the Minute of Council) 
that a book being found at the Printers, giving an Account 
of the Revolution of New York and contained nothing but 
Truth, 'Tis resolved Nemine contradicente, that it shoiUd be 
Printed. But who were the Council who consented to this 
great piece of Service to His Majesty? Why Coll. Fletcher, 
who is supposed to have given orders for its being Written, 
Coll. Bayard of whom enough is said plainly and truly, Mr. 
Brook who carryed it to the Press and was one of Leislers 
Judges; Mr. Pinhom, another of Leislers Judges (who is since 
removed by His Excellency the Earl of Bellomont from being 
Judge and of the Council, for speaking most Scandalous false 
and reproachful words of His most Sacred Majesty King 
William, and for protecting and concealing in his house a 
Popish Priest) and some other Enemies of the Revolution. 
So that (to omit the false sordid flatteries given to Coll. 
Fletcher, which are impertinently added by the Libeller) it 
is apparent that there was a wicked conspiracy, by this book 
to give distraction (by Printing it just before the Earl of 
Bellomont's Arrival at New York) and thereby to divide the 
People and so to disturb Affairs under his Government, that 
there should be no time or opportunity of quickly inquiring 
into the Corruptions of Coll. Fletcher's managements. 

This was the time and design of its Publication, these the 
qualities of the supposed Authors, and of the Persons who 
carryed it to the Press, and after this manner (by Coll. Fletcher 
and the afore mentioned of the Council) it was permitted to 
be Printed ; so that it is no wonder, that this book was a Mine 
Sprung from Hell to blow up the Peace of this Province, 
when so many Sons of Belial in Office and Authority joyned 
in its Contrivance and Publication, who must keep to their 
nature and not stick at any plain falsehood (although it fly 
in the face of the Bang, Lords and Commons of England, and 

^ Chidley Brooke was king's collector. Under Fletcher he was both col- 
lector and naval oflBcer. 



1697] LOYALTY VINDICATED 401 

Truth itself) that may Exasperate and raise a flame, and if 
possible Murder over again those Martyrs for their Loyalty, 
Capt. Leisler and Mr. Milbourn, who were barbarously Exe- 
cuted for bravely Asserting the Rights and Liberties of English- 
men against Popish and Arbitrary Government; and for their 
Early and Sincere Affection to His most Sacred Majesty King 
William, whom God send long to Reign.^ 

* In the original pamphlet the text is followed by a reprint of the "Act for 
reversing the Attainder of Jacob Leisler and others." This act is printed in 
the Documentary History of New York, II. 435-437, octavo ed. 



INDEX 



Accomac, headquarters of Governor 
Berkeley at, 34-36, 64, 79, 121, 135. 

Account of the Late Revolution in New 
England, An, by Nathaniel Byfield, 
165-182. 

Ads of the Privy Council, Colonial, 
114 n., 265 n. 

Adam and Eve, ship, 114, 129. 

Addington, Isaac, 171, 171 n., 182, 
216 n., 240, 240 n. 

Albany, N. Y., 338. 

Albemarle, Duke of, 163. 

Albemarle, settlement (N. C), 96 n., 
145; social conditions, 4-7, 145; up- 
risings in, 5-7, 139 n., 143-164; hos- 
tile Indian tribes, 145; commerce, 
146, 150, 151 n., 158, 161 n.; gov- 
ernors, 157 n. 

Alden, George, 198 n. 

Algiers, pirates of, 160, 160 n., 162. 

Allen, Samuel, 173 n. 

AlUson, Robert, 334, 387 n. 

Alsop, Vincent, 297. 

American Antiquarian Society, 13, 14. 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 206 n., 209, 213, 
216, 231, 232, 277 n., 323, 329 n., 
350, 377, 382, 383, 384, 393; gover- 
nor of Massachusetts, 7, 167, 168, 
171 n., 172 n., 177, 177 n., 229, 229 n. ; 
ordered to surrender, 172; imprison- 
ment, 173, 174, 187, 189, 202, 206 n., 
232-233; Indian campaign, 180, 
180 n., 195, 196; forts erected by, 
187 n., 189 n.; successor of, 188; 
grievances of colonists against, 197, 
240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 
248, 249, 249 n. ; introduction on, 223- 
228; Report of his Administration, 
229-236; Narrative of the Proceedings 
of, 237-249; criticisms of, 260, 260 n. 

Andros Tracts, The, 168, 169, 171 n., 
174 n., 180, 200 n., 206 n., 227 n., 
230 n., 239 n., 258 n., 275, 288. 



Annesly, Samuel, 297. 
ArUngton, Lord, 11, 107, 107 n. 
Arnold, Capt. Isaac, 392 n. 
Ashe, History of North Carolina, 163 n. 
Ashurst, Sir Henry, 273, 278, 278 n., 
283, 285, 395 n. 

Bacon, Nathaniel, jr., 117 n.; biograph- 
ical sketch, 19 n.-20 n., 109 n., 110, 
110 n.; leader for defense against 
Indians, 20, 52, 108-109, 111-113, 
123, 127; commissions, 21, 33, 52, 
53, 54, 56, 109, 112, 115-116, 117, 
117 n., 118; elected to Virginia As- 
sembly, 21-22, 54, 114; expeditions 
against Indians, 21, 34, 38, 53-54, 
56, 56 n., 67, 108-109, 112; capture 
and parole, 22, 22 n., 54, 55, 114, 
114 n., 115; pardoned before Vir- 
ginia Assembly, 23, 54, 115; escape 
from Jamestown, 27, 55, 116; calls 
meeting for protection from Berkeley, 
32 n., 35, 60, 118, 119; at the Mid- 
dle Plantation, 35, 53, 58, 59 n., 121- 
122; Jamestown besieged by, 35, 71, 
130-136; death, 38, 38 n., 39, 74- 
75, 86, 135, 139, 139 n.; influence of 
Lawrence on, 41, 96; proclaimed 
traitor, 57, 57 n., 112, 116, 119, 129; 
remonstrance to Governor Berkeley, 
58, 59, 133 n.; oath of allegiance, 
60, 111, 117 n., 118-119, 121-122, 
122 n., 136-137; Governor Berkeley 
bottled up by, 67, 130-136; composi- 
tion of army, 94, 110, 118; act of in- 
demnity, 118; speeches to army, 119- 
120, 124, 126, 129, 130; seizure of 
Berkeley, 122; letters, 133-134; ad- 
justment of war ravages, 138-139; 
relations with insurgents of neigh- 
boring colonies, 145. 

Bacon, Nathaniel, sr., house used by 
insurgents, 85 n., 86, 90, 134 n.; 



403 



404 



INDEX 



moves against rebels, 90, 133 n.; 
forces sent to Drummond and Law- 
rence from house of, 96. 

Bacon, Thomas, 19 n. 

Bacon's and Ingram's Rebellion, History 
of, 43-98. 

Bacon's Assembly, 32 n., 35, 60, 125. 

"Bacon's Castle," 96 n. 

Bacon's Epitaph, made by his Man, 75- 
76. 

Bacon's rebellion, narratives of, 1-141 ; 
causes of, 6, 11-12, 16, 20, 40-41, 48, 
105-111. 

Bacon's Rebellion, Beginning, Progress 
and Conclusion of, 9-41. 

"Bacon's Trench," 36 n. 

Badcock, Nicholas, 306, 306 n. 

Ballard, Col. Thomas, 117, 117 n. 

Baltimore, Lord, see Calvert. 

Barbary, John, merchant, 349, 349 n. 

Barclay, see Berkeley. 

Barker, Matthew, 297. 

Bates, William, 297. 

Baxter, Major Jervis, 361, 361 n., 376, 
377, 380. 

Bayard, Col. Nicholas, 319, 361, 362, 
364, 366, 382, 384, 387; and the 
Modest and Impartial Narrative, 319; 
arrest of, 319, 353, 354; opposes Leis- 
ler's revolt, 327, 327 n. 

Bayard family, 317. 

Beaver, ship, 362, 368 n. 

Beekman, Dr. George, 340, 354. 

Beer, The Old Colonial System, 176 n. 

Beginning, Progress, and Conclusion of 
Bacon's Rebellion, The, by Thomas 
Mathew, 9-41. 

Belcher, Andrew, 216 n. 

Bellomont, Lord, 397, 398 n., 399, 
400. 

Berkeley, John, Lord, 107, 107 n. 

Berkeley, Sir William, governor of Vir- 
ginia, 20, 39 n., 40, 104, 109, 117 n., 
127 n.; receives Bacon, 23, 54, 114, 
114 n.; pardon and commissions for 
Bacon, 27, il^Z, 54, 56, 115-116, 
117, 117 n.; headquarters, 34-36, 64, 
79, 83, 121, 135; besieged by Bacon, 
35, 67-71, 130-135; flees from James- 
town, 35, 71, 121, 135; pardons par- 
ticipants of the insurrection, 38, 66, 
94, 96; receives royal commissioners, 
39; journey to London, 39-40, 103; 



proclaims Bacon a traitor, 57, 57 n., 
112, 116, 119, 129; receives Bacon's 
remonstrance, 58-59; Baconian sup- 
porters turn against, 60, 121; treaty 
of peace with Ingram, 94, 140; sum- 
mary of conduct, 95; returns to land, 
98; successors, 102; refuses hospi- 
tality to royal commissioners, 103; 
letter relative to Indian wars, 106; 
aids Indians, 109, 112; receives 
Charles City delegation, 110 n.; sei- 
zure by Bacon, 122; report in Calen- 
dar of State Papers, Colonial, 133 n., 
138; property destroyed in James- 
town fire, 136 n.; Vindication of, 
136 n.; Miller trial, 147. 

Bermuda, 335 n. 

Berry, Sir John, biographical sketch 
39, 101; confiscation of Drum- 
mond's property, 39 n.; arrival in 
Virginia, 98 n., 103; A Tru£ Narra- 
tive of the Late Rebellion in Virginia, 
99-141. 

Beverley, Major Robert, sr., 83, 95; 
biographical sketch, 79, 79 n.; raids 
Baconian headquarters, 84-85; op- 
position to royal commissioners, 104. 

Beverley, Robert, jr., History of Vir- 
ginia, 79 n. 

Biggs, Capt. Timothy, 150, 150 n., 161; 
seizure of, 153, 154, 161; accused of 
murder, 155; agent for Albemarle in- 
surgents, 157; escape to England, 
162; withdrawal of, 163. 

Birch, 152 n. 

Blagg, Benjamin, 345, 352, 354. 

Blair, James, The Present State of Vir- 
ginia, 134 n. 

Blakiston, Nehemiah, 303. 

Bland, Giles, 36, 39, 122 n., 123, 138; 
capture of, 37, 65, 128; sent to block 
Berkeley, 64, 123. 

Bland, John, 36 n. 

Blathwayt, WilUam, 174 n., 193, 285 n.- 
286 n. 

Blayton, 30. 

Blunt, James, 151, 155, 156. 

Bond, William, 217 n. 

Bonner, Bishop Edmund, 349, 349 n. 

Bosch, Albert, 380. 

Boston, Mass., 320 n., 323, 323 n., 382; 
uprisings, 165-182, 187 n., 188, 208; 
history, 176 n., 200 n.; boundaries, 



INDEX 



405 



186 n.; King's Chapel, 193; Old 

South Church, 230 n. 
Bouden, Mordslay, 155. 
Boutracy parish, Va., 13, 13 n. 
Boyle, Robert, 265 n. 
Brackett, Anthony, 261 n. 
Bradford, William, 320 n. 
Bradstreet, Dudley, 216 n. 
Bradstreet, Gov. Simon, 170, 170 n., 

173, 182, 188, 216 n., 256. 
Brazier, Abraham, 353. 
Brent, Major George, 17, 17 n., 22, 

106, 123, 126. 
Brent, Col. Giles, 71, 72,73, 123, 123 n.- 

124 n. 
Brent, Robert, 254, 254 n. 
Brief Account of the Agents, A, by In- 
crease Mather, 26^-297. 
Brigham, C. S., Proclamations, 331 n. 
Bristol, ship, 102, 103. 
Bristow, Major Robert, 24 n., 88, 89. 
British Museum, 12. 
Broadbent, Jonathan, 172, 172 n. 
Brockholes, Major Anthony, 177 n., 

205 n., 337, 361, 376. 
Brooke, Chidley, 368, 368 n., 369, 

392 n., 399, 400, 400 n. 
Brown, Simon, 216 n. 
Brown, William, 182, 233. 
Bruce, Phihp A., 79 n., 139 n.; Insti- 
tutional History of Virginia, 134 n. 
Buckmaster, Edward, imprisoned, 335. 
Bullivant, Dr. Benjamin, 171, 171 n., 

186, 190, 200. 
Burger, John, 344, 345, 346. 
Burwell, Capt. Nathaniel, 45. 
Burwell, Hon. William A., 45. 
Byfield, Nathaniel, 168-169, 185, 194; 

Account of the Late Revolution in 

New England, 165-182. 
Byfield [Mass.], Tlie Story of, by J. L. 

EweU, 169 n. 
Byrd, John, 110 n. 
Byrd, Valentine, 152, 152 n., 153. 
Byrd, Capt. William, 20 n., 72 n., 110, 

110 n. 

C. D., New England^ s Faction Discov- 
ered, 251-268. 

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 33 n. 
85 n., 108 n., 117 n., 133 n., 139 n., 
160 n., 169, 187 n., 214, 227 n., 259 n., 
279 n., 283 n., 285 n., 286 n., 352. 



Calendar of Treasury Books, 158 n. 

Calvert, Cecilius (Lord Baltimore), 
301, 305. 

Calvert, Charles (Lord Baltimore), 
79 n., 301, 302, 304, 305, 306, 306 n., 
307, 308, 308 n. 

Cambridge, Mass., 320 n. 

Campbell, John, 303, 

Canada, 230. 

Canadian Archives, 173 n. 

Canadian Indians, 230. 

Carohna, early map of, 151 n.; see also 
Albemarle. 

Carolina, ship, 151 n. 

Carolina proprietors. Gov. Eastchurch 
sent to Albemarle, 146, 149 n. ; nar- 
rative of, 157-164. 

Carteret, Sir George, 157, 157 n. 

Carteret, Peter, 157 n. 

Cartwright, Thomas, bishop of Ches- 
ter, 378, 378 n. 

Carver, Capt. William, 33, 36-37, 64, 
65, 82, 123, 128, 138. 

Castle Island, 189 n. 

Castle WilUam, 189 n. 

Catlin, Captain, 85 n. 

Chamberlaine, Capt, Thomas, 134, 
134 n. 

Channing, Edward, History of the 
United States, 179 n. 

Charles I., 259, 305. 

Charles II., 5. 

Charles City County, Va., 26 n., 32 n., 
109, 110 n. 

Chauncey, Isaac, 297. 

Cheeseman, Maj. Thomas, 80^81-82. 

Cheseldyne, Kenelm, 303. 

Chicheley, Sir Henry, 37, 37 n., 107. 

Chilton, joint author, The Present 
Slate of Virginia, 134 n. 

Church, Benjamin, 261, 261 n. 

Church of England, 207, 258, 259, 
259 n. 

Churcher, William, 325, 325 n., 326 n., 
349, 349 n., 350, 353. 

Churchill, William, see Churcher, Wil- 
liam. 

Cineka Indians, see Seneca Indians. 

Citternborne, see Sittingbourne. 

Clark, Nathaniel, 175, 175 n., 190. 

Clark, Thomas, 333, 333 n., 335, 389 n, 

Clarke, Hall, 97, 



406 



INDEX 



Clarkson, Matthew, 398 n. 

Clifford, Thomas, Lord, 158, 158 n. 

Clomp, Abraham, 353. 

Clouds, Richard, 303. 

Clough, Rev. John, 138, 138 n. 

Cole, Col. William, 23, 30, 59, 73. 

Colleton, Sir Peter, 155, 164; narrative 
of, 157-161. 

Colman, Rev. Benjamin, 186 n. 

Colman, WiUiam, 186, 186 n. 

Commerce, menaced by pirates, 112, 
160, 160 n. 

Commissioners for Virginia, 39, 98, 102, 
103; A True Narrative of the Late 
Rebellion in Virginia, 99-141. 

Committee of Safety (N. Y.), 328, 
328 n., 329, 365. 

Commons Journal, 167, 254. 

Compton, Dr. Henry, bishop of Lon- 
don, 193. 

Condon, Lt. David, 217 n. 

Connecticut, charter of, 234 n. 

Consett, Captain, 140 n. 

Cony, Richard, governor of Bermuda, 
335 n. 

Coode, John, 139 n., 302, 303, 309 n. 

Cooke, EUsha, 171, 171 n., 182, 216 n., 
285 n. 

Cookson, Capt. William, 133-134. 

Copley, 152 n. 

Corbit, John, 362. 

Cortland, see Van Cortlandt. 

Council of Safety (Mass.), 202, 203, 
204, 216 n. 

Cox, William, member Leisler Com- 
mittee of Safety, 328 n. 

Coyler, Henry, 380. 

Crafford, Dr. Mungo, 172, 172 n. 

Craven, Charles, Earl of, 155, 157, 
164. 

Crawford, William, 151, 151 n., 152, 
153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159. 

Crews, Capt. James, 110, 110 n., 114. 

Culpeper, John, 34 n., 151, 154, 156, 
157, 159; relations with the insur- 
gents, 145, 152, 153, 155, 159; suit 
against, 147, 148; biography, 151 n.- 
152 n.; receiver of customs, 162. 

Culpeper, Lord, governor of Virginia, 
11, 79n., 102, 107, 107 n., 145. 

Cutter, Mr., 260 n. 

Cuyler, Hendrick, 324, 324 n., 325, 
345, 354. 



Daill4, Rev. M., 367, 367 n. 

Damariscotta River, 205 n. 

Danckaerts, Jasper, Journal of, 326 n. 

Danforth, Thomas, 171, 171 n., 182, 
216 n. 

Dartmouth, ship, 102, 103. 

Deane, in Memorial History of Boston, 
176 n. 

The Declaration of the Gentlemen, Mer- 
chants, and Inhabitants of Boston and 
the Country Adjacent, 168, 175-182. 

Declaration of the People, 79 n., 133 n., 
136. 

Declaration of the Protestant Subjects in 
Maryland, 299-314. 

Deer Island, 201 n. 

De Key, Jacob, 334, 334 n., 349. 

De Key, Jacob, jr., 344. 

De Lanoy, Peter, 318; mayor of New 
York, 338, 354, 364 n., 365, 367. 

De la Plaine, Nicholas, 326 n. 

Dellius, Rev. Godfrey, 367, 367 n. 

De Peyster, Capt. Abraham, 318, 324, 
324 n. 

De Peyster, CorneUus, 344, 349. 

De Witt, Cornells, 381 n. 

De Witt, Jan, 381 n. 

Digges, Gov. Edward, 79 n. 

Digges, Capt. William, 79 n. 

Dishington, John, 326 n. 

Dobson, Mr., 18. 

Documentary History of New York, 337, 
361 n., 401 n. 

Doegs, Indian tribe of, 16, 16 n., 17-18, 
105. 

Dongan, Gov. Thomas, 337, 337 n., 
375 n. 

Drake, S. G., History of Boston, 200 n. 

Drew, Captain, 85 n., 86, 95. 

Drummond, William, 32 n., 114; bio- 
graphical sketch, 24 n., 96; helps to 
fire Jamestown, 35, 135; trial and 
execution, 38, 66, 95-97; property 
restored to wife, 38n.-39n.; leader 
of insurgents, 85 n., 96, 145. 

Dudley, Gov. Joseph, 7, 174, 174 n., 
176 n., 178 n., 187 n., 213, 261, 392 n. 

Dudley, Joseph, The Public Life of, 
Kimball, 174 n., 176 n. 

Dudley, Paul, 187, 187 n., 189 n. 

Duke, Sir Edward, 19 n. 

Duke, Elizabeth, 19 n. 

Dummer, Jeremiah, 216 n. 



INDEX 



407 



Dummer, Richard, 216 n. 
Dunton, John, Letters, 171 n. 
Durant, George, 151, 151 n., 153, 154, 

155, 156, 157, 159. 
Dutton, Sir Richard, 193. 

Eastchnrch, Thomas, 151 n.; governor 

of Albemarle, 146, 149, 151 n., 158; 

biographical sketch, 149 n., 156, 

160. 
Easthampton, L. I., 323 n. 
EdsaU, Samuel, 318, 340 n., 345, 352, 

354. 
ElUott, Richard, 353. 
Emet, James, demands release of Philip 

French, 345. 
England, revolution in, 167, 302. 
Ewell, J. L., The Story of Byfield, 

169 n. 
Eyre, John, 172, 172 n., 216 n. 

Fau-field, Conn., 330 n. 

Fairweather, Capt. John, 174, 189, 

189 n. 
Farlow, Capt. George, 82-83, 138, 

138 n. 
FarriU, Capt. Hubert, 89-91, 133, 

133 n., 134 n. 
Farwell, George, 171, 171 n., 177 n. 
Feltham, Owen, Resolves, Divine, Moral 

and Political, 88. 
Fitch, Capt. James, 330, 330 n. 
Fitzhugh, William, 13, 17 n. 
Fletcher, Gov. Benjamin, 371, 377, 396, 

396 n., 397, 398, 400, 400 n. 
Fort Hill, Boston, 187 n., 188. 
Fort Niagara, Indians at, 230, 230 n. 
Fortifications, 19, 50-52, 69, 86, 95, 

108 n., 112, 113, 187, 187 n., 189, 

189 n. 
Foster, John, 182, 198 n., 200, 203, 

216 n. 
Foster, Richard, 151, 153, 155, 156. 
Foxcroft, Francis, 171, 171 n,, 173 n., 

200, 306. 
France, 6, 198. 
French, Philip, 326 n., 334; Indian 

slave of, 344; imprisonment and re- 
lease, 344-348. 
Friend, Sir John, executed, 378 n. 
Fry, New Hampshire, 173. 
Fuller, Rev. Thomas, 68 n. 



Gardner, Capt. Thomas, 22, 114, 114 n., 
115, 129, 140 n. 

Gedney, Bartholomew, 182, 216 n., 
233, 249. 

Genesis of the United States, Brown, 71 n. 

George, Capt. John, 170, 186, 189, 190, 
200, 203; Letter of, to Pepys, 211-219; 
commander of the Rose, 213; aids in 
defence against Indians, 214, 215, 
215 n. 

Gerrets, Nicholas, 326 n. 

Gillam, Benjamin, 151 n., 152 n. 

Gillam, James, pirate, 151 n. 

Gillam, Capt. Zachariah, 151, 151 n., 
153, 156, 157; suit against, 147, 157- 
161 ; relations with Albemarle insur- 
gents, 152, 157, 159. 

Gloucester County, Va., Berkeley's 
headquarters, 34, 86, 87, 119; Ba- 
conian headquarters, 71-74,, 83, 84, 
85, 138; petition of, 121 n.; oath of 
allegiance taken, 122 n., 136. 

Gloucester Point, 71 n. 

Gold, Major Nathan, 330, 330 n. 

Gooch, Col. Henry, 85 n. 

Goodrick, Edward Randolph, 198 n., 
260 n. 

Gouge, Colonel, 73, 97. 

Gouverneur, Lt. Abraham, 338. 

Graham, James, 174, 174 n., 177 n., 
202, 204, 361 n. 

Grantham, Capt. Thomas, 45, 78, 
140 n. ; An Historical Account of some 
Memorable Actions, 92; biographical 
sketch, 92 n.; dealings with Ingram, 
92-93, 140; aid in quelhng the rebel- 
Uon, 92-95, 140, 140 n. 

Green, carpenter, 199. 

Green Spring, Va., assembly at, 33 n., 
95, 96, 98 n., 103, 110 n., 140; head- 
quarters of insurgents, 85 n., 86, 
129 n., 130, 136. 

Griffith, George, 297. 

Grooves, Colonel, 85 n. 

GroseilUers, Medart Chouart de, 151 n. 

Guillotine, 376 n. 

Hansford, Capt. Thomas, 79, 79 n., 80. 

Harleian Library, 12. 

Harley, Robert, Earl of Oxford, 12, 15, 

15 n. 
Harris, 97. 
Harrison, Benjamin, 172 n. 



408 



INDEX 



Hartwell, Henry, joint author, The 

Present State of Virginia, 134 n. 
Hartwell, Capt. William, 79 n., 104, 

134, 134 n. 
Harvard Graduates, Sibley, 204 n. 
Harvey, Gov. John, 150 n., 151, 162, 

162 n. 
Hawkins, Capt. Thomas, jr., 138. 
Hawthorne, John, 216 n. 
Haynes, Brian, 378, 378 n. 
Haynes, Lt. John, 332, 364. 
Hempstead, L. I., 323 n. 
Hen, Robert, 16-17. 
Herbert, Sir Edward, 378, 378 n. 
Hickes, Capt. Jasper, 392 n. 
Hill, Col. Edward, 26 n., 32 n., 79 n., 

104. 
Hill, Capt. James, of Boston, 71, 171 n., 

172 n. 
Hill, James, of North Carolina, 163. 
Hinckley, Gov. Thomas, 185, 233, 249. 
Holden, Robert, 148, 160 n., 161 n., 

162. 
Holt, Sir John, 279 n., 280. 
Hone, Maj . Theophilus, 22, 136 n. 
House of Commons Journal, see Com- 

mans Journal. 
Howards, 84, 85. 
Howe, John, 297. 
Howell, Capt. Matthew, 323 n. 
Hudson, Henry, 150, 150 n., 154-155. 
Hudson's Bay Company, founding of, 

151 n. 
Humphrey, G. P., ed.. Colonial Tracts, 

14. 
Huntington, L. I., 323 n. 
Huntington Records, 322 n. 
Hutchinson, Eliakim, 216 n. 
Hutchinson, Elisha, 171 n., 244, 244 n., 

272. 
Hutchinson, Thomas, History of Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, 167, 185. 

Indian Wars, Narratives of, 231 n., 
261 n. 

Indians, 6, 11, 12, 25-27, 59, 110, 112, 
113, 115, 116, 120, 131, 214; massa- 
cres by, 16, 21, 48-49, 53, 106; 107, 
108, 149; wars with, 21, 47, 53, 55, 56, 
56 nn., 105-106, 107, 123, 136, 180- 
181, 196, 197-198, 255-256; sorceries, 
38; methods of torture used, 50; Vir- 
ginia, peace urged with, 103; trade 



with, 158; Massachusetts invasion, 
180, 204; New England uprising, 231, 
234, 235; Maine overrun by, 260,265; 
New Hampshire partly destroyed, 
260, 265; Pemaquid fort burned, 261; 
gospel taught, 265, 265 n.; Schenec- 
tady captured, 267; see also Doegs; 
Fort Niagara; Mohawk; Nanjaticoe; 
Occannechees ; Pamunkey; Piscat- 
taway; Seneca; Susquehanna. 

Ingoldesby, Major Richard, 248 n., 
368, 390 n., 391, 392, 392 n., 394. 

Ingram, Joseph, see Ingram, Lau- 
rence. 

Ingram, Laurence, 85 n., 127 n.; suc- 
ceeds Bacon, 38, 78, 139; biograph- 
ical sketch, 78, 78 n., 86; sends 
Walklett to Middlesex, 87; captures 
headquarters of Maj. L. Smith, 88; 
duel threatened, 88-89 ; dealings with 
Grantham, 92-93, 140; treaty with 
Berkeley, 94, 140. 

Jackson, Capt. John, 323 n. 

Jamaica, 206. 

James II., 5, 271, 302, 332 n., 360, 375, 

377, 378 n., 382, 384, 393, 394. 
James, John, 297. 
Jamestown, Va., siege and fire of, 35, 

67-71, 130-136, 140. 
Jamestowne, The Site of Old, by S. H. 

Yonge, 70 n., 136 n. 
Jamison, David, 376 n., 398 n. 
Jans, Annetje, 317. 
Jansen, Hendrick, member of Council, 

340 n., 345, 345 n., 352, 354. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 12. 
Jeffreys, Judge George, 101, 378, 378 n. 
Jeffreys, Col. Herbert, 39, 79 n., 101, 

103, 117 n.; governor pro tempore of 

Virginia, 40, 102; A True Narrative 

of the Late Rebellion in Virginia, 99- 

141. 
Jeffreys, Alderman John, 101, 102. 
Jenkins, John, 151, 151 n., 155, 156, 

157, 163. 
Jephson. WilUam, 272, 277, 277 n. 
Jesuits, 307, 311, 312. 
John Carter Brown Library, 228. 
Johnson, Johannes, 338. 
Johnson, Thomas, 392 n. 
Johnson, William, 216 n. 
Jordan, Lieutenant, 205 n. 



INDEX 



409 



Jordan's Point, 110 n. 

Joseph, William, 301, 303, 306 n. 

Jowles, Henry, 303. 

Joyliffe, John, 187, 187 n., 216 n. 

Justification of the Revolution in Neio 

England, by Edward Rawson and 

Samuel Sewall, 239, 239 n. 

Kennebec River, 255. 

Kiersted, Lucas, 351 n. 

Kimball, Everett, The Public Life of 

Joseph Dudley, 174 n., 176 n. 
King, Rufus, 12. 

King Philip's War, 113, 113 n., 261 n. 
Koran, 78. 

Lambert, Denis, 387 n. 

Langston, Major, 34. 

Larkin, Thomas, 172, 172 n. 

Larrimore, Capt., 36 n., 37, 104, 122, 
128. 

Laurence, John, 392 n. 

Lawrence, Richard, 24, 27, 114; bio- 
graphical sketch, 24 n., 39, 96; con- 
ference with Thomas Mathew, 30- 
31; helps fire Jamestown, 35, 136 n., 
140; pardon refused, 38, 66, 96; 
agitator of Bacon's rebellion, 40, 96; 
abandons Jamestown, 67; leader of 
insurgents, 85 n., 96; capture and 
execution, 95-97. 

Lee, Col. Richard, 27, 32. 

Leisler, Jacob, trial and execution, 7, 
171, 369, 369 n., 392, 392 n., 393; 
leader of revolution in New York, 
317, 318, 320, 323, 323 n., 324; mar- 
riage, 317, 334 n.; usurps authority, 
329-338, 344, 347, 348; letter to 
Long Islanders, 332 n.; imprisons 
Thomas Clark, 333, 333 n.; procla- 
mation issued, 337, 337 n. ; assumes 
title of heutenant-governor, 339, 366; 
orders Philip French before Council, 
345; disregards law, 350, 350 n.; vio- 
lence of 351-354, 360-364, 364 n., 
365^369; abuse of, 383; defence of, 
384-388, 388 n., 389-395, 395 n., 396; 
act of ParUament relative to, 395, 
395 n.; widow of, 397. 

Letter from a Gentleman of New York, 
355-372. 

Lidget, Col. Charles, 173, 173 n., 187, 
202. 



Lockermans, Covert, 317. 

Lockhart, Major, 205 n. 

Lodwyck, Capt. Charles, 325. 

Long Island, convention, 322, 323, 
323 n. 

Lords of Trade, 272, 273, 274, 275, 
281 n., 308 n., 394 n. 

Lords Proprietors of Carolina, see 
Carolina proprietors. 

Loyalty Vindicated, 373-401. 

Ludwell, Philip, 32, 36 n., 79 n., 128 n., 
133 n.; accompanies Farrill against 
rebels, 90; animosity for royal com- 
missioners, 104; biographical sketch, 
104. 

Ludwell, Thomas, 36 n., 102, 128 n., 
139 n. 

Lydgett, Mr., see Lidget, Col. Charles. 

Lynde, Joseph, 216 n. 

Macaulay, History, 379 n. 

Macgregory, Lt. Patrick, 205 n., 248, 
248 n., 391 n. 

Magdalene College, 215 n. 

Maine, Indians in, 260, 265. 

Manning, Captain, 205 n. 

Mary, Queen, 379 n. 

Maryland, social conditions in, 3, 7, 
139 n., 145; insurrection threatened 
in, 36, 105; Indian uprisings, 106, 
311 ; Declaration of Protestant Subjects 
in, 299-314; Roman Catholic church 
in, 302, 307 n.; charter, 305, 306 n., 
307; delegates to convention of, 307, 
307 n., 308; penal laws of, 309; griev- 
ances under laws of, 309-310. 

MasanieUo, 31, 31 n., 323, 323 n. 

Mason, Mrs., 18. 

Mason, Col. George, 13, 17, 17 n., 22, 
31, 106. 

Massachusetts, 395 n. ; narratives of 
insurrection of 1689 in, 165-297; 
charter, 235 n., 254 n., 279 n.; agents 
in England, 273, 276, 279, 279 n., 287. 

Massachusetts, Colonial Society of, 
Publications, 171 n. 

Massachusetts Historical Society, 45-- 
46; Collections, 173 n., 180 n., 202 n. 

Mather, Cotton, 177 n., 186 n., 244, 
244 n., 259, 259 n.; Declaration of the 
Gentlemen, Merchants, and Inhab- 
itants of Boston and the Country Ad- 
jacent, 168, 175-182; Parentator, 275. 



410 



INDEX 



Mather, Increase, 168, 171 n., 180, 
186 n.; Unlawfulness of Common 
Prayer Worship, 258 n., 259; Brief 
Account of the Agents, 269-297; mes- 
senger to King James, 271-275, 
276; negotiations in England, 276- 
296. 

Mathew, Thomas, 13, 22; Beginning, 
Progress, and Conclusion of Bacon's 
Rebellion, 9-41. 

Mathewes, 105, 134, 134 n. 

Mattapany, 302. 

Mayo, Richard, 297. 

Mead, Matthew, 297. 

Merritt, John, 335. 

Merritt, WiUiam, 330, 330 n., 335. 

Merritt, William, jr., 330, 334, 334 n. 

Middle Plantation, see Williamsburg, 
Va. 

Middlesex County, Va., 34, 87. 

Milborne, Jacob, 318, 335, 335 n., 338; 
secretary to Leisler, 346, 347, 348; 
member of Council, 354. 

Milborne, William, 335 n., 369, 393 n., 
394. 

Miller, Thomas, 6, 149-164; collector 
of customs, 146, 148, 151 n., 152 n., 
158, 160 n., 161, 164; biographical 
sketch, 147-148; affidavit of, 149- 
157; capture and trial, 152-153, 154, 
155; Sir Peter Colleton on, 157-161; 
Carolina proprietors on, 161-164. 

Minge, James, 32. 

Modest and Impartial Narrative, A, by 
Nicholas Bayard, 315-354. 

Mohawk Indians, 197, 264. 

Monck, George, 193. 

Monmouth, James Fitzroy, Duke of, 
103. 

Montagu, W., 157. 

Morris, Captain, 140 n. 

Morris, Col. Lewis, 350, 350 n. 

Moryson, Col. Francis, 35 n., 132; 
royal commissioner to Virginia, 39, 
98 n., 103; A True Narrative of the 
Late Rebellion in Virginia, 99-141; 
colonial agent in England, 101 ; bio- 
graphical sketch, 102. 

Moryson, Fynes, 102. 

Moryson, Sir Richard, father of Fran- 
cis, 102. 

Moryson, Thomas, 102. 

Myles, Rev. Samuel, 259 n. 



Nanjaticoe Indians, 125. 
Nansemond County, Va., 85 n., 145. 
Navigation Acts, 6-7, 12, 146, 150 n., 

176 n. 

Neill, E. D., Virginia Carolorum, 58 n. 

Nelson, Capt. John, 173, 173 n., 182, 
200, 206, 206 n., 216 n. 

New England, An Impartial Account 
of the State of, 239 n. 

New England, A Vindication of, 217 n. 

New England's Faction Discovered, 228. 

New England, social conditions in, 3, 
146; assembhes in abeyance, 4-5, 
176, 178 n.; uprisings in, 7, 113, 165, 
167, 176-182, 193, 196-199; com- 
merce of, 146, 151, 158; hears of ac- 
cession of William and Mary, 216; 
news from, 253; conspiracy formed 
in, 257; evangelizing of Indians in, 
265; Mather's efforts in interest of, 
269-275 ; see also Massachusetts. 

New Hampshire, destroyed by Indians, 
260, 265; made independent colony, 
274. 

New Kent County, Va., 85 n., 96-97, 
129 n., 130. 

New York, social conditions in, 4; men 
serving Andros, 177 n.; narratives of 
insurrection (Leisler's) in, 315-402; 
A Modest and Impartial Narrative, 
317-354; Jacob Leisler, leader of 
revolution in, 317, 318, 320, 322, 
325-329, 329 n.; A Letter from a Gen- 
tleman of the City of, 360-372; Loy- 
alty Vindicated, 373-402; espouses 
cause of William and Mary, 377, 393. 

New York City, charter of, 337, 337 n., 
342, 343. 

New York, Documentary History of, 
O'Callaghan, 327 n., 337 n., 401 n. 

New York, Documents relative to the 
Colonial History of, 160 n., 173 n., 
228, 319, 327 n., 328 n., 361 n. 

New York Historical Society, Collec- 
tions, 322. 

Niagara, N. Y., 360, 360 n. 

Nicholson, Lt.-Gov. Francis, 171 n., 

177 n., 193, 209, 209 n., 317, 321, 
321 n., 322, 324 n.; leaves colony, 
326, 329 n.; message from William 
III., 338, 338 n., 339; suspends 
Roman CathoUcs from places of 
trust, 360, 361. 



INDEX 



411 



Nicolls, Matthias, 352 n. 

Nicolls, Gov. Richard, 5. 

Nicolls, WilHam, 352 n., 354, 384, 387. 

Nixon, John, accused of treason, 155, 

161. 
Noddle's Island (East Boston), 201 n. 
North Carolina, Colonial Records of, 

139 n., 147, 152 n., 158 n. 
North Carolina, History of, by Ashe, 

163 n. 
North Carolina, insurrection in, 143- 

164; see also Albemarle. 
Norwich, Conn., 330 n. 
Notley, Gov. Thomas, 140 n. 
Nottingham, Lord, 390 n. 
Nowell, Samuel, 272. 
Nuthead, William, 304, 314, 320 n. 

Gates, Titus, plot, 175 n. 
O'Callaghan, Documentary History of 

New York, 327 n., 337 n. 
Occannechees Indians, 123. 
Ohver, Nathaniel, 172, 172 n., 216 n. 
Orange, Prince of, see Wilham III. 
Oyer and terminer, court of, 392 n. 

Page, Major, 45, 86, 87, 97. 

Paice, Thomas, 161 n. 

Paige, Col. Nicholas, 187, 187 n., 189. 

Palmer, John, judge, 174, 174 n., 177 n., 

187, 202, 204, 361 n. 
Pamunkey Indians, 25-27, 123, 124- 

125, 127. 
Parker, James, 216 n. 
Parkyns, Sir William, 378. 
Particular Account of the Late Revolu- 
tion, A, 191-210. 
Paspahegh Indians, 35 n. 
Paspahegh Old Fields, 35 n., 129 n., 

130. 
Pasquotank district, Va., 145, 152. 
Pate, John, 38 n., 139. 
Pate, Thomas, 38 n., 139. 
Patience, ship, 150. 
Payne, Henry Neville, 254, 254 n. 
Pemaquid fort, 205, 205 n., 261. 
Pepys, Samuel, 214, 215 n.; Letter of 

Captain George to, 211-218. 
Perrin, W. G., librarian of Admiralty, 

215 n. 
Perry, John, 350, 350 n. 
Petre, Father Edward, confessor to 

James II., 254, 254 n. 



Philipse family, 317. 

Phihpse, Frederick, 326, 326 n., 361. 

PhilUps, John, 216 n. 

Phipps, Constantine, 395 n. 

Phips, Sir William, 167, 173 n., 272, 

277 n., 294. 
Pierce, Daniel, 217 n. 
Pieret, Rev. Mr., 367, 367 n. 
Pike, Robert, 216 n. 
Pimet, Mr., 18. 

Pinhome, WilHam, 392 n., 400. 
Pipon, Col. John, 189 n., 203. 
Piscataqua River, 267 n. 
Piscattaway Indians, 18 n., 123 n. 
Piatt, Ebenezer, 323 n. 
Plowman, Matthew, 332, 361, 364, 376, 

377, 379. 
Pollexfen, Sir Henry, 279 n. 
Potomac River, 302. 
Potter, Captain, 72. 
Pounds, Tom, 200, 200 n. 
Powhatan, 25 n. 

Presbyterian church established, 281 n. 
Pressley, WiUiam, 25 n., 39. 
Prince, John, 185. 
Prince, Samuel, 185; Letter of, 183- 

190. 
Prince, Rev. Thomas, 185. 
Prinne, Captain, 140 n. 
Privy Council, 104, 114 n., 140, 148, 

274, 283 n. 
Protestant Association, 302, 312-314. 
Provest, Johan, 352. 
Purling, William, 303. 

Quary, Robert, 145. 
Quick, John, 297. 
Quincy, Edmund, 217 n. 
Quincy, Hon. Josiah, 45. 

Radisson, Pierre Esprit, 51 n. 

Randolph, Edward, 7, 171, 187, 187 n., 
194, 195, 216; secretary of New Eng- 
land, 174 n.; collector of customs, 
176 n.; blamed for insurrection, 189; 
biographical sketch, 189 n.; impris- 
onment, 193, 194, 202, 203, 204; 
charges against Mather, 271-272. 

Randolph, Toppan and Goodrick, 187 n., 
204 n. 

Rappahanock grievances, 106. 

RatcUffe, Rev. Robert, 193, 230 n. 



412 



INDEX 



Ravenscroft, Capt. Samuel, 171, 171 n., 

200, 206. 
Rawson, Edward, Justification of the 

Revolution in New England, 239, 

239 n. 
Reade, Col. George, 80, 80 n. 
Rebecca, ship, 104. 
Resolves, Divine, Moral, and Political, 

by Owen Feltham, 88. 
Rhode Island, charter of, 234 n. 
Richards, Major John, 171, 171 n., 182, 

216 n. 
Richards, Paul, 332, 364. 
Riggs, John, bearer of letters from 

William and Mary, 338, 338 n., 339, 

362, 362 n., 365, 386. 
Robinson, Conway, 46. 
Robinson, Sir Robert, 392 n. 
Roman Catholic Church, 5-6, 307, 311. 
Romer, Col. Wolfgang, 189 n. 
Romney, Henry, Earl of, 282 n. 
Rookins, Capt. WiUiam, 96 n. 
Rose, ship, 102, 203, 209, 213, 214, 215, 

215 n., 216, 216 n., 219, 233. 
Rousby, Christopher, 306, 306 n. 
Russell, Bartholomew, 361, 361 n., 377, 

379, 380. 
Russell, James, 216 n. 

Safety, Council of (Mass.), 202, 203, 
204, 216 n. 

St. Albans, Earl of, 107, 107 n. 

St. Omer, France, 307, 307 n. 

Saltonstall, Nathaniel, 216 n. 

Sancroft, WiUiam, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, 193. 

Scanderbeg, 90. 

Scarborough, Col. Edmund, 66. 

Scates, the bricklayer, 172. 

Schenectady, N. Y., 267. 

Schuyler, Brandt, 334, 334 n. 

Schuyler, Peter, 338. 

Schuyler family, 317. 

Scoggan's Jests, 48. 

Scottish Maiden (guillotine), 376 n. 

Selyns, Rev. Henricus, 367, 367 n. 

Seneca Indians, 18 n. 

Sergeant, Peter, 182, 216 n. 

Sewall, Samuel, joint author, Justifica- 
tion of the Revoluiion in New England, 
239, 239 n. 

Shaftesbury, Earl of (Anthony Ashley 
Cooper), 148, 151 n., 164. 



Shepard, Rev. Jeremiah, 194, 195, 203, 

203 n.-204 n. 
Sherlock, James, 171, 171 n., 200. 
Sherwood, William, 136 n.; account of 

Bacon's rebellion, 22 n. 
Shrimpton, Col. Samuel, 172 n., 182, 

187, 187 n., 189, 194, 201, 201 n., 

216 n., 233 n., 249. 
Sibley, J. L., Harvard Graduates, 204 n. 
Sittingbourne, 107. 
Skewon, Capt. Edward, 133 n., 133- 

134. 
Slavery, 94, 95. 
Sloughter, Gov. Henry, 369, 370, 

388 n., 390, 399; convenes court of 

oyer and terminer, 392, 392 n. ; signs 

Leisler's death warrant, 392 n. 
Small, Robert, 199 n., 216. 
Smith, opponent of Bacon, 134, 134 n. 
Smith, Ensign, 205 n. 
Smith, Adam, 172, 172 n. 
Smith, John, 175, 216 n., 248. 
Smith, Major Lawrence, 86, 87, 174. 
Smith, Major-Gen. Robert, 102. 
Smith, WiUiam, 392 n. 
Somers, Sir George, 279 n. 
SotheU, Seth, 151, 160, 160 n., 162. 
Southampton, L. I., 323 n. 
SouthweU, see SotheU. 
Spencer, Col. Nicholas, 32. 
Sprague, Richard, 216 n. 
States, Dr. Samuel, 354. 
Stegg, Thomas, 110 n. 
Stephens, Samuel, 157 n. 
StoU, Ensign Joost, 318, 398 n.; agent 

to England, 324, 324 n., 328 n. 
Stoughton, Lieut. -Gov. WiUiam, 173, 

173 n., 182, 216 n., 233, 249. 
Stretton, Richard, 297. 
Stujrvesant, Gov. Peter, 318. 
Summers, Solomon, 150 n. 
Susquehanna Indians, 17-18, 105, 107, 

110, 112. 
Swann, Col. Thomas, 103, 136 n. 
Sydney, Viscount, see Romney, Earl of. 

Talbot, George, 306 n. 
Tanner, Dr. J. R., of Cambridge, 215 n. 
Temple, Sir Thomas, 201 n. 
Thorpe, Capt., 66, 121, 121 n.-122 n. 
Tillotson, John, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 287, 287 n. 



INDEX 



413 



Tindall's Point, 71 n., 86, 94, 122 n. 

Titus Oates plot, 175 n. 

Tobacco, 11, 146, 151 n.; tax on, 308. 

Tomber, Will, 353. 

Toppan, Randolph, 187 n., 204 n. 

Townsend, Capt. Penn, 202, 202 n., 

216 n. 
Trade, see Commerce. 
Treby, Sir George, 279 n. 
Treffry, Capt. Thomas, 174, 174 n., 

177 n., 200, 202, 203. 
True Narrative of the Late Rebellion in 

Virginia, A, by the Royal Commis- 

eioners, 99-141. 
Tudor, Capt. John, imprisonment, 335, 

335 n., 361 n.; demands release of 

Philip French, 345, 347, 348. 
Tyler, Pres. Lyon G., The Cradle of the 

Republic, 70. 
Tymans. Elsie, 317, 334 n. 

United States, History of the, Channing, 

179 n. 
Upon the Death of G. B., 76-77. 
Usher, Hezekiah, 173 n. 
Usher, John, 173, 173 n., 189, 202. 

Van Cortlandt family, 317, 318. 

Van Cortlandt, Col. Stephanus, 330 n., 
361, 387. 

Van Couwenhoven, John, 345, 352, 
354. 

Van der Veen, Pieter, 317. 

Vandenburgh, Derrick, imprisonment, 
335, 335 n. 

Varrick, Rev. Rudolphus, 367, 367 n. 

Virginia, 302, 312; social conditions in, 
3-4, 7, 139 n.; Bacon's rebellion in, 
6, 7, 11-141; taxation in, 11, 107 n., 
158; Northern Neck counties, 16 n.; 
laws for indentured servants, 95 n., 
113 n.; A True Narrative of the late 
Rebellion in, by the royal commis- 
sioners, 99-141 ; Quakers established 
in, 150 n.; first printing-press in, 
320 n. 

Virginia, Institviional History of, Bruce, 
134 n. 

Virginia, Present State of, Hartwell, 
Blair, and Chilton, 134 n. 

Virginia Carolorum, NeiU, 58 n. 

Virginia Historical Society, 13. 



Virginia Magazine of History and Biog- 
raphy, 59 n., 104, 109 n., 122 n. 

Wadding, Rev. James, 74. 

Waldo, Samuel, 17^ n. 

Walklett, Gregory, 38, 87, 140. 

Walters, Robert, 337. 

Warner, Col. Augustine, 36, 72 n. 

Warrascoyack Bay, 85 n. 

Warren, Humphrey, 303. 

Washington, John, 18 n. 

Waterhouse, David, 182, 198 n., 200, 
203, 216. 

Weems, Lieutenant, 177 n., 205 n. 

Wells, Edward, 152, 153. 

Wenham, Thomas, 332. 

West, Major John, 138, 174, 174 n., 
177 n., 187, 188, 202, 204. 

West Point, 25 n., 85 n., 86, 94, 96. 

Whaley, Major, leader of insurgents, 
85 n., 86, 90; repulses Farrill's at- 
tack, 90-91, 133 n.; reinforces Lau- 
rence and Drummond, 96; disband- 
ing of army, 97; death, 98. 

Wharton, Philip, Lord, 213, 277, 277 n. 

Wheeler, John, 323 n. 

White, Patrick, 151, 155. 

White, Capt. William, 171, 171 n., 200, 
206. 

Whitehead, Daniel, 350, 389 n. 

Wilford, Capt. Thomas, 80, 81. 

Wilkenson, James, 138. 

Wilkinson, Capt. Henry, 163, 163 n. 

Willett, Capt. Thomas, 368, 368 n., 
389 n. 

Willetts Point, 368 n. 

WiUiam III., 277 n., 360; letter from, 
371, 372. 

WilUam and Mary, 302, 311, 312, 313, 
314, 320, 321, 330, 331, 360, 363, 
378, 383, 388, 389, 400, 401. 

William and Mary Quarterly, 18 n. 

Williams, Thomas, 340 n., 345, 354. 

Williamsburg, Va., 35, 35 n., 53, 58, 
72, 103, 121-122. 

Williamson, Sir Joseph, 101. 

Willoughby, John, 151, 151 n., 156. 

Willson, Ebenezer, sheriff of New 
York, 399, 399 n., 400. 

Winham, Thomas, 348, 364. 

Winslow, Edward, 265 n. 

Winslow, John, 167. 

Winthrop, Adam, 182, 266. 



414 



INDEX 



Winthrop, John, the elder, History, 

189 n. 
Winthrop, John, jr., 187 n. 
Winthrop, Major-Gen. Wait, 169, 

172 n., 182, 187, 187 n., 189 n., 201, 

216 n., 231, 249, 259. 
Wise, J. C, The Early History of the 

Eastern Shore of Virginia, 66. 
Wise, Rev. John, trial of, 178 n. 
Wiseman, Samuel, 79 n., 104. 



Witchcraft, 18, 111. 
Woodcock, Thomas, 297. 

Yong, Capt. John, 97. 

Yonge, S. H., The Site of Old James- 

towne, 70 n., 136 n. 
York County, Va., 83, 85 n. 
York Fort, 62. 
Young, Col. John, justice, at trial of 

Jacob Leisler, 392 n. 



A GREAT HISTORICAL WORK 



ORIGINAL NARRATIVES 
OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 

REPRODUCED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

General Editor, J. FRANKLIN JAMESON, Ph.D., LL.D. 

DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN THB 
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OP WASHINGTON 

Each volume octavo, cloth-bound, about 450 pages 

$3.00 net. Postage extra 

VOLUMES ALREADY PUBLISHED 

Each with FuU Index, Maps and Facsimile Reproductions 

The Northmen, Columbus, and Cabot, 985-1503 

Edited by Julius E. Olson, Professor of the Scandinavian Languages and Literi 
atures in the University of Wisconsin, and Edward Gaylord Bourne, Ph.D., 
Professor of History in Yale University. 

The Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, 1528-1543 

Edited by Frederick W. Hodge, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and 
Theodore H. Lewis, of St. Paul. 

Early English and French Voyages, Chiefly Out of Hakluyt, 1534- 1608 

Edited by the Rev. Dr. Henry S. Burrage, of the Maine Historical Society. 

Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, 1604-1618 

Edited by W. L. Grant, M.A. (Oxon.), Beit Lecturer on Colonial History in the 
University of Oxford. 

Narratives of Early Virginia, 1606-1625 

Edited by Lyon Gardiner Tyler, LL.D., President of the College of William 
and Mary. 

Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, 1606-1646 

Edited by William T. Davis, Formerly President of the Pilgrim Society. 

Winthrop's Journal (History of New England), 2 vols., 1630-1649 

Edited by Dr. James K. Hosmer, Corresponding Member of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society and of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. 

narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 
Edited by Dr. J. F. Jameson. 

Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence of Sions Saviour in New England 
Edited by Dh. J, F. Jamebon. 



ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Narratives of Early Maryland 

Edited by Clatton Colman Hall, LL.B., A.M., of the Maryland Historical 
Society. 

Narratives of Early Carolina 

Edited by Alexander S. Sallet, Jb., Secretary of the Historical Ooramissioa of 
South Carolina. 

Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Jersey 
Edited by Dr. Albert Cook Myers. 

The Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680 
Edited by Rev. B. B. Jambs, of Baltimore. 

Narratives of the Indian Wars, 1675- 1699 

Edited by Db. Charles H. Lincoln. 

Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648- 1706 

Edited by Professor George L. Burr, of Cornell University. 

Narratives of the Insurrections, 1675- 1690 

Edited by Professor Charles M. Andrews, of Yale University. 

VOLUMES IN PREPARATION 

Narratives of the Early Northwest 
Narratives of the Early Southwest 



WHAT EMINENT HISTORICAL SCHOLARS 
SAY OF THE SERIES 

From the "Preface of ihj General Editor, "Dr. J. F. Jamejon : 

" At its annual meeting in December, 1902, the American Historical Association 
approved and adopted the plan of the present series, and the undersigned was chosen 
as it.s general editor. The purpose of the series was to provide individual readers of 
history, and the libraries of schools and colleges, with a comprehensive and well- 
rounded collection of those classical narratives on which the early history of the 
United States is founded, or of those narratives which, if not precisely classical, 
hold the most important place as sources of American history anterior to 1700. 

" The plan contemplates, not a body of extracts, but in general the publication or 
republication of whole works or distinct parts of works. In the case of narratives 
originally issued in some other language than English, the best available translations 
will be used, or fresh versions made. The English texts will be taken from the 
larliest editions, or those having the highest historical value, and will be reproduced 
with literal exactness. The maps will be such as will give real help toward under- 
standing the events narrated in the volume. The special editors of the individual 
works will supply introductions, setting forth briefly the author's career and oppor- 
tunities, when known, the status of the work in the literature of American history, 
and its value as a source, and indicating previous editions; and they wlU" furnish 
such annotations, scholarly but simple, as will enable the intelligent reader to under- 
stand and to estimate rightly the statements of the text." 



f^lu\/ -0 ,'!i/^/ 



ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 

Chartej M. Andreiaj, "Ph.Ti., "Professor of History, Johns HoftKjnj 
Un ix)e rs ity : 

■'The series is one of unquestioned importance in that it contains complete texts 
selected with excellent judgment of narratives valuable to every student and reader of 
American history. The series for this reason will always stand on a higher level than 
the ordinary source book, and will appeal to a much wider range of persons interested. 
Its value grows with each volume issued, not only because the amount oi valuable text 
material is thereby increased, but also because the later volumes contain reprints of 
rarer and more indispensable narratives. Such reprints will be especially serviceable 
for class use where valuable originals could not be placed in the hands of students, and 
will be important additions to the libraries of small colleges which cannot afford 
generally to purchase rare and expensive texts." 

C»»r^e B. Adams, Ph.Ti., LiU.7).. Professor of History in yatm UnU 
tfersity and President of the American Historical Association : 

"1 feel like congratulating you heartily on the impre.ssion which I am sure the vol- 
umes already published of the 'Original Narratives of Early American History' muai 
make on all who examine them. They seem to me admirably done both from the edi- 
torial and the publishing side, and likely to be of constantly increasing usefulness to 
students, schools, and libraries, as time goes on." 

Albert "Bushnell Hart, Professor of History in Harx>ard Uni-Oersity and 
First Vice-President of the American Historical Association : 

"I have felt great interest in the series since its inception, and it is likely to be of 
considerable service to scholars, and particularly to libraries which can no longer find 
originals at the price within their means." 

Majc Farrand, Ph.D., Professor of History, Stanford Unitfersity : 

"The narratives chosen, the scholarly editing of those narratives, and the form in 
which they are presented, combine to render this an unusually good series. You have 
rendered a genuine service to American scholarship by thus placing within reach of 
every one, and in a serviceable form, documents which have hitherto been more or less 
inaccessible or unusable. The series Is one which every student of American history 
must use, and he should have access to it either in his own library or in the library from 
wliich he draws his material." 

William MacDonatd. Ph.D., LL.D., Professor tff American History 
in "Brobun Unit)ersity : 

" For all historical study beyond the most elementary, the systematic and extended 
use of the sources is of course indispensable. The output of documentary material for 
the American Colonial Period has been these twenty years past very considerable, 
although vast quantities of significani documents still exist only in manuscript. In the 
field of narrative sources, however, republication has been far less frequent, and the 
scarcity of these originals, together with the high prices which copies command, have 
made it practically impossible for students who do not have access to the largest 
libraries to make more than occasional or incidental use of this kind of historical 
material. 

"If the volumes of 'Original Narratives' thus far published are a sufiQcient indication 
— as I have no doubt they are — of what the series will be as a whole, a great gap in 
valuable material for the study of American origins wiU be worthily filled. 

"The editorial work of the volumes shows a commendable union of care and restraint. 
The introductions both of the general editor and of the editors of the several volumes 
are sufficient without being too long, while the explanatory foot-notes are kept well 
within bounds. Mechanically, the volumes are well made, open easily in the hand, and 
are issued at a price which puts them within the reach of libraries and indiAiduals of 
modest means. 



ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 

' A series so well vouched for on the editorial side can need little commendation from 
other quarters, for the volumes are their own best commendation. As a teacher of 
American history to college classes, however, I am always glad to find valuable material 
for student use increase, and the ' Original Narratives ' deserve, and I hope will receive, 
a cordial reception and a generous use." 

Wonhin^lon C. Ford, Chief of "Division o_f Manujcript£, Library o^ 

Con^rejj, Wajhin^ton, "D. C. : 

" I look upon it as one of the best series undertaken to encourage the study of Ameri- 
can history. Not only is the original plan rarely intelligent, but the individual volumes 
prove the care and critical capacity of each editor. The volumes are not only our 
source books of American history, but they are also readable and in such convenient 
form that they should be in every library, and used as text books in the teaching of 
history." 

Senator Henry Cabot Lod^e, in the /forth American 'R.etfietu: 

"In this volume on 'The Northmen, Columbus, and Cabot,' and as the prospectus 
indicates, in its successors, the selection could not be improved. Judging from this 
volume alone, it may also be said that nothing could be better than the editing. We 
have the best texts accompanied by brief but clear introductions, and explained by 
notes which are sufficient to guide and instruct and not sufficient to puzzle and encum- 
ber. In each case a short list of authorities ia given which will direct those who wish 
to pursue their inquiries upon any one of the three subjects in the way in which they 
should go to find all the sources and the last works of modern research and antiquarian 
learning. The selection and editing could not in fact have been better done for the 
purpose which the editors had in view. 

" If any one wishes to wrestle with the endless questions and controversies of the 
Columbian voyages, it is easy to plunge into the countless books upon the subject. 
Meantime the general reader, little concerned with dates and identification of places, 
but profoundly interested in the fact of America's discovery, can find in these letters 
and journals the man himself, and live over with him the triumph, one of the greatest 
ever won, and the tragedy, one of the most piteous ever endured. 

" After all, there is nothing better than this that history can do for us, and very few 
histories can do it quite so well as an original narrative with all its errors and imper- 
fections on its head, if we are only fortunate enough to possess one which has both 
literary quality and real human feeling." 

A NECESSITY IN EVERY LIBRARY 

The American Library Association ISoofi List says of " /farratixfej 
of Early Virginia" : 

" A careful edition of the most readable original narratives having to do with the 
early history of Virginia. No better introduction to the use of source material could 
be given, and the general reader of history will find these accounts more fascinating 
than the latest historical novel. They should be found in every library that can afford 
to purchase them." 



For Fuller Information, send to the Publishers 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

Fifth Avenue at 48th Street, New York 



W12 



0^ ..--'^ ^o ^"^ 







i * «? «>>\ o^ 

^ 







r 













0^ \*^'^'"y'^ "-^--v. 











• <V 




WERT 
XSiNDiNC 

)l.£T01,»«l P<k 

tAR 84 






^'''^^, 












.s^. 



;^ .^ 



ABR^^'' 



Of 



CO' 



HGRt^^. 



l\\\\\W 



003 



26A 



6A8^ 



